DRY JANUARY

18-01-2019

THIS WEEK The cold weather has continued as we gallop through a very dry January, wondering when the rain might come.  Similar to last week we have very few runners to report with conditions now preventing us from going ahead with plans to run a few more.  We have a very sad loss to report which has very much left a whole in the yard, it's never easy when these things happen particularly for the owners and the whole yard who love and care for these amazing animals each day.  Onwards and upwards and let's hope the rain arrives before too long... REPORTS HONOURMISSION Honourmission finished fourth on debut in the bumper at Ludlow yesterday afternoon.  He had been showing plenty of potential in his work at home and in a racecourse gallop at Newbury recently, so we ere expecting a better performance than the one he produced.  It turned out that he was slightly outpaced round the sharp track so he ran off his nerves and held his breath, which meant he eventually struggled to get home.  We will most likely have a look at his wind before running him again in another bumper. JOHNNY ROCCO Johnny Rocco sadly suffered a fatal injury at Huntingdon last Thursday in the Maiden Hurdle.  It is with great sadness that we lost not just a horse with potential, but a good friend as well.  He was much loved and will be missed by everyone; owners and staff included.  He was a horse with a lot of character and had a wonderful attitude to life in general, as well as his work. COLD MARCH Cold March ran on Saturday in the 3m Unibet Handicap Chase at Kempton to finish fifth.  It was the first time trying out this trip, therefore we decided to drop him out.  He is a horse with plenty of ability; despite being reluctant throughout the race once he passed a couple of opponents, it looked as if he was going to be able to take third.  However he just missed out by half a length.  He definitely gets the trip and we feel he wants to run in staying chases from now on. ENTRIES COLD MARCH Cold March has an entry at Hereford on Wednesday in the 3m 1f Handicap Chase.  We will review the entries and hopefully he will be able to be competitive off his revised mark of 132. DJIN CONTI Djin Conti will head to Doncaster next Friday for the Northern Lights Stayers Hurdle Series Qualifier over 3m.  He has been in really good form at home and came close to winning last time out.  Having been stepped up in trip, he proved he stayed around a sharp track.  Therefore, the more galloping nature of Doncaster will hopefully suit him better and he will be able to run a big race. GENIUS Genius holds an entry in the Pertemps Novices’ Championship Hurdle Series Qualifier at Huntingdon on Friday over 2m.  He is in good form at home and has been schooling well.  He has learnt lots from his last run at Taunton and hopefully he can take a step forward and be really competitive. ROUGE VIF Rouge Vif is also entered in the same race at Huntingdon on Friday.  He is in amazing form and is improving all the time mentally.  He ran an absolute cracker at Kempton on Boxing Day to finish second to Mister Fisher.  He has a few entries in novice company over the coming weeks, which should be a good confidence booster for him. COURT LIABILITY Court Liability has a Pertemps Handicap Hurdle qualifier entry at Huntingdon next week over 3m 1f and also at Musselburgh in February.  He is unbeaten for the yard and hopefully he can be competitive in one of these races.  He is in good form at home and we cannot wait to run him again.