Ups and Downs

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a mixture of emotions on the yard at Lindean.

I was so proud to send out our first runners at the prestigious York Ebor meeting on Wednesday past.

Curious Rover held his own in a very competitive sprint handicap in the Battenberg silks of URSA Major Racing to finish in the middle of a big field of top class horses. He jumped well, traveled well and galloped through the line in the hands of William Pyle. Rover rarely runs a below par race and has gave his owners plentiful days out on the big tracks. A true little warrior of a horse.

Towards the end of the day Jason donned the silks of Summerstorm Bloodstock to guide the highly progressive Luna A Inbhir Nis to a very close third, beaten only a head. Always a bit frustrating to come so close but equally we can look back with so much pride at what Luna has achieved this year. A big gangly 2yo that has now grown in to her frame as a 3yo and only looks to be getting faster by the run. If someone had told us where the season would take us when she won her match race at Newcastle at the start of the year we would have thought they were mad.

For a yard our size it is no mean feat and a testament to all the girls on the yard who work hard all year round to have the horses as happy and healthy as possible. But its a bigger team with all our amazing owners support, our farrier - Elliot, our veterinary team at Rowley Mile Equine who are both vets and therapists (for me not the horses), the team at Harbro for keeping us stocked up and of course Tony and Jackie who keep us supplied with lovely haylage for the horses. Sorry not as Oscar’s speech I know, but I am so grateful to everyone who helps us along the way.

The sales records have our two York Ebor week runners down as a cumulative price of £4000, proof for the smaller owner that if your in the right place at the right time, and with a lot of luck and hard work, the dream can come true.

Of our other horses that have ran over the past couple of weeks Black Storm was a bit of a highlight, not beaten far on his debut run for the yard, although frustrating to go down by a short distance to a well handicapped looking horse. The rest have run in and out with different reasons, but a few we have definitely learned things with and should improve for a few tweaks.

The sad news on the yard this month is that we lost two of our lovely fillies to severe but totally unrelated injuries. It is a very big hit to us all, there is nothing worse than coming home to an empty stable and there have been a few tears shed. The veterinary teams involved were amazing and all the girls on the yard and the owners involved have been absolute troopers through some crap days, but I must say this game really knows how to kick you when you are already down. Horses do give us the best days, and the worst.

However, we pick ourselves up and look forwards to a couple of runners at Musselburgh , one each day for their two day fixture. We then send a few to the all weather this Friday at Newcastle as we start to get a little desperate for rain, the weather looks set to change and I really hope it does, we need some juice in the ground and a last flourish of grass would be welcome.

Orbital Chime heads to Musselburgh on Wednesday

On Saturday we look forwards to hosting our National Racehorse Week Open Morning, the event sold out quickly and it is great to be involved in such a great initiative. Photos of that to follow!

Rover Wins at Musselburgh