Hello,
I must apologise as I have been particularly useless this month at getting my hooves to
the keyboard! I have no excuses really, except that I have been terribly busy training one particular horse, but more on that later!
We got July off to a flyer from a rather suprising source, when the rather mysterious Camanche Grey (left) ran an absolute belter at Hamilton to come home in front in the 5 furlong handicap, recording his third career victory. Not an easy horse to predict, it was his first run on soft ground and he seemed to love it, demolishing the field by 2 and a half lengths. He was given an absolute peach of a ride by Robbie Fitzpatrick, who deserves plenty of credit as he wouldn’t be the easiest ride. He has proceeded to run well this month, finishing 3rd another twice, and is hopefully developing some consistency in his old age for owners Derek Barclay and Paul and Wilma Heseltine. He certainly looks a picture, and hopefully may be able to add to his tally again this year.
We have seen some other nice performances this month which probably went under the radar:
Cup Final really pleased us at Market Rasen in the Listed Summer Plate Chase – his jumping stood up to this much sterner test than he had previously faced, taking his fences exceptionally well for a novice, and whilst he just lacked a bit of speed and experience he ran on nicely at the end. There should be a nice race in him down the line over a longer trip. Quiet Moment showed too much speed over 6 in first time blinkers last week and didn’t get home, but she runs on Monday over 5 furlongs and it would be nice to think she could go close for patient owners Ontoawinner and Trojan Horse. Cherry Oak has also had three outings for the same syndicate, along with Daniel Shapiro and David Clifford: still a little weak, she has shown us a really good, game attitude, finishing 3rd and 5th on her last two starts, and she should be a nice prospect for nurseries: you cannot fault a filly who tries!
Finally, the reason I have been so busy recently! I have been closely monitoring the progress of Percy (Prancing Oscar) (left), who has to be one of the best looking horses on the yard, and came to the conclusion that he has been showing enough in his races for me to lend him some of my precious time (I also thought Ben wasn’t doing a good enough job, but don’t tell him that!) I decided upon a suitable race – who doesn’t want to be at Wolverhampton at 9.00 on a Monday night?!) and swiftly set about training him to handle the bends. We went round and round the top field, doing some fairly serious exercise drills, until finally he got the hang of it and I could stand still and watch him from the middle (breathing a little hard, I must admit!). I made sure I accompanied him to the racecourse, and ensured he knew exactly what he was meant to do – and boy did he do it! Given a quite exceptional ride by Oisin Murphy, the pair set off meaning business and led pillar to post to prevail by a neck over the insufficent mile trip. We were over the moon for owners Middleham Park and Spee Fox-Andrews, and there should be loads more to come from this chap. He will get at least two furlongs further on the flat, and even more excitingly I see a few sets of hurdles in his future – and boy I can’t wait to teach him about those! Not the fastest son of Sir Prancealot ever born, it’s true, but definitely one who is going to be around giving his owners fun for a while to come!
Until next time,
Dance
BEN HASLAM RACING
the keyboard! I have no excuses really, except that I have been terribly busy training one particular horse, but more on that later!
We got July off to a flyer from a rather suprising source, when the rather mysterious Camanche Grey (left) ran an absolute belter at Hamilton to come home in front in the 5 furlong handicap, recording his third career victory. Not an easy horse to predict, it was his first run on soft ground and he seemed to love it, demolishing the field by 2 and a half lengths. He was given an absolute peach of a ride by Robbie Fitzpatrick, who deserves plenty of credit as he wouldn’t be the easiest ride. He has proceeded to run well this month, finishing 3rd another twice, and is hopefully developing some consistency in his old age for owners Derek Barclay and Paul and Wilma Heseltine. He certainly looks a picture, and hopefully may be able to add to his tally again this year.
We have seen some other nice performances this month which probably went under the radar: 
Cup Final really pleased us at Market Rasen in the Listed Summer Plate Chase – his jumping stood up to this much sterner test than he had previously faced, taking his fences exceptionally well for a novice, and whilst he just lacked a bit of speed and experience he ran on nicely at the end. There should be a nice race in him down the line over a longer trip. Quiet Moment showed too much speed over 6 in first time blinkers last week and didn’t get home, but she runs on Monday over 5 furlongs and it would be nice to think she could go close for patient owners Ontoawinner and Trojan Horse. Cherry Oak has also had three outings for the same syndicate, along with Daniel Shapiro and David Clifford: still a little weak, she has shown us a really good, game attitude, finishing 3rd and 5th on her last two starts, and she should be a nice prospect for nurseries: you cannot fault a filly who tries!
Finally, the reason I have been so busy recently! I have been closely monitoring the progress of Percy (Prancing Oscar) (left), who has to be one of the best looking horses on the yard, and came to the conclusion that he has been showing enough in his races for me to lend him some of my precious time (I also thought Ben wasn’t doing a good enough job, but don’t tell him that!) I decided upon a suitable race – who doesn’t want to be at Wolverhampton at 9.00 on a Monday night?!) and swiftly set about training him to handle the bends. We went round and round the top field, doing some fairly serious exercise drills, until finally he got the hang of it and I could stand still and watch him from the middle (breathing a little hard, I must admit!). I made sure I accompanied him to the racecourse, and ensured he knew exactly what he was meant to do – and boy did he do it! Given a quite exceptional ride by Oisin Murphy, the pair set off meaning business and led pillar to post to prevail by a neck over the insufficent mile trip. We were over the moon for owners Middleham Park and Spee Fox-Andrews, and there should be loads more to come from this chap. He will get at least two furlongs further on the flat, and even more excitingly I see a few sets of hurdles in his future – and boy I can’t wait to teach him about those! Not the fastest son of Sir Prancealot ever born, it’s true, but definitely one who is going to be around giving his owners fun for a while to come!
Until next time,
Dance
BEN HASLAM RACING