What followed was heartbreaking for Marty (Mission to Mars), all my fellow owners in Staplegrove Racing and his devoted lass and companion Janey Lloyd at Nigel Twiston-Davies yard. After all sorts of tests to try and sort what was causing Marty's post race distress, we felt that we had done everything possible as we went to Huntingdon to try and follow up his first chase victory. I hadn't contemplated him falling, but the sight of him sliding into the first fence and falling in a heap, only to be cannoned into by a following horse and then getting up and galloping on, clearly injured beyond saving, was something nobody wants to see and left us all in complete shock.
I realise that it's an unfortunate part of jumps racing, but if anyone ever has the nerve to doubt the dedication and care of the stable staff who look after theses wonderful creatures, they only needed to see the faces of poor Janey and young Jamie Bargary who had to come back in and tell us what had happened, to understand how much they are loved and cared for.
RIP Marty
MISSION TO MARS
As I mentioned, I had joined forces with Alexandra Dunn Racing at West Buckland and taken a 50% lease in ARRAYAN, and we have had great fun campaigning him to try to win prize money, wherever he has run. He is a grand old campaigner and it would be marvellous to get a win for him before the end of the year. He has run some cracking races on the All Weather and got a handicap mark of 67, but as the Flat season approaches, the big battalions of the Flat are starting to bring their good horses out, so there are now very few 'Easy' races to be had. We thought Arrayan had a decent chance at Exeter, where I was delighted to be able to offer the ride to Jamie Bargary. Arrayan ran a cracker but got bogged down in the very sticky ground. The handicapper has relented and dropped Arrayan to a mark of 99, so we will almost certainly go to Newton Abbot's opening meeting next Wednesday, with Alex's newly appointed Conditional Mikey Hamill claiming a valuable 7lb. We stil have a chance of achieving my dream of a win at my home track of Taunton before the end of the season, but a win anywhere would be fantastic.
Alex and Tom have had a great season and my fellow owners with Marty, have taken the plunge again by taking a 50% Share in Teachmetobouggie, a 4 year old gelding bought very cheaply at Ascot Sales by Tom. Bouggie is progressing extremely well and we hope that he will make his Bumper debut in about 3 weeks time. He could be very exciting and 'The Dream' starts again for Staplegrove Racing.
I am also working with Alex and Tom to look to form Partnerships in a number of new horses that they have available. We are currently looking for owners for BLEU ASTRAL, a very well related 3 year old, who was bought out of the Richard Fahey stable. He is likely to be campaigned over hurdles over the summer jumping season and promises to give his owners a lot of fun over the next few months
Have a look at www.alexandradunnracing.com for details of all shares available.
An exciting few weeks ahead with my own horses and with 2 jumpers and 8 Flat horses with Middleham Park Racing, either in action or about to come out shortly, 2015 promises to be another fun filled season.
I will post an update on the MPR horses over the next week or so.
I hope you enjoyed my update? If you did, please share it and retweet as much as possible. If you are interested in getting involved in the yard, please email me at dave@flutter61.co.uk or phone on 07967725295.
Many thanks for reading.
