Light at the end of the tunnel

29-05-2020

HWR WEEKLY NEWS We hope this finds you all well, and no doubt like many of us you are eagerly awaiting Monday when racing is set to resume. The sun has been shining brightly over Hill Barn, and we look set for some more glorious weather to come. There is a sense of some sort of normality resuming and it feels great to get back into the swing of things. Here's a run down of the entries we have coming up over the next two weeks. And now that racing is back up and running we will aim to keep sending you these updates every other Friday until the busy National Hunt season gets underway. We hope this will give you something to look forward to in the coming weeks and shine some light at the end of the tunnel. In the meantime we hope you all keep safe and well. ENTRIES LANTIERN Lantiern holds an entry at Kempton in a mile and half maiden for 3 year olds plus on the flat on Tuesday. He is 2 from 2 in jumpers' bumpers on the all weather so we felt it would be worth giving him ago on the flat. He has been in great form at home and has taken to the stalls well. A mile and a half is possibly a bit short in trip, but with the current revised programme it makes sense to start him off here. And with the knowledge that he will improve in handicaps with a step up in trip it seems a good place to start. We are looking forward to getting him out and provided he gets a run, this would be our first runner for the new campaign. SHAFFIRE Shaffire is in really good form at home and we have been really excited to get her back on the track. She's definitely strengthened up from having a bit of a break and we are looking forward to running her. She has a few different entries over a mile to a mile and a quarter over the coming week. We will need some luck in order to get a run with the ballot system however but she is ready to go. Hopefully she can show how much she has come on since joining to the yard. We feel that she will improve for a step up in trip at some stage in the next couple of runs, so there should be further avenues to explore. MEDALLA DE ORO Medalla De Oro is in great form at home and has been thriving off his work recently. It was fantastic to get that win into him over hurdles at Fakenham in March before racing got put on hold. The plan would be to give him a couple of runs on the flat before jump racing starts and then find him another opportunity in a novice hurdle. He is entered over a mile and a half and a mile and a quarter in a couple of different places next week. We will review entries before working out where he will definitely go. ARIA ROSE Aria Rose is in good form at home and he hasn't run since last autumn. We gave him a nice break through the winter and he was meant to come back for a hurdles run in the Spring, but obviously this was cut short due to the lockdown. He is now ready to go and will start back on the flat. We feel that he has strengthened up a huge amount for having a break as he was always a little bit backwards. He's in good form at home and he's entered in 2 races at Lingfield on Monday 8th June. We look forward to seeing what he can do back on the flat before jump racing starts in July. IN OTHER NEWS SALTO CHISCO DOING HIS BIT IN THE BATTLE AGAINST COVID-19 We have an exciting new opportunity which we have developed during this time of tragedy and uncertainty. It is in the hope that it might give us all something to look forward to and a little light at the end of this tunnel… For those of you who may already know we have recently changed the ownership of our beloved Salto Chisco so that he can remain here at Hill Barn where he knows and loves and can live out the rest of his career. At the tender age of 12 there is still plenty of life in this most valuable, consistent team player and battles for him to fight on the track! This is why we are reaching out to you all, some who may have already shared in the excitements in his racing life to date via The British Racing Club and others who have followed his achievements via these weekly emails and other connections you might have to the team. What we are proposing is a ‘Salty Crisp Fan Club’ (working title so far!) for a group of likeminded followers to share in the joy of this much loved horse. For as little as £55 per month or £600 all in and upfront for the year (discount when paying upfront) we are hoping to get enough people together to make up a syndicate at a very affordable rate. We would run things in our usual way by keeping everyone updated and involved as much as possible (most likely on a whatsapp group or similar) and provide regular photo and video updates to keep everyone amused, particularly while restrictions remain in place. And then the hope would be that we could get him back on the track for a summer jumping campaign and into the autumn/winter. Finally and perhaps most importantly, we have no interest in making any kind of profit out of this venture, it is purely something for us all to look forward to. So at this time of crisis we are proposing to donate all profits (after training fees, etc. have been covered) towards the NHS. We are all in total admiration for their hard work and dedication during this time and if there is a way we can repay this in our own way then this is it. The purpose of this message is to gauge interest levels before we take things any further in terms of physically setting up the syndicate and getting Salto back in training. If this is of interest then please reply via email to Alice (info@harrywhittington.co.uk) ASAP and we will be creating a list of interested individuals before we crack on. By all means please do share on to friends and family… We hope this may be of interest and we look forward to hearing from you.