As I sit here writing this, it is exactly two weeks until the Tregaron spring meeting. Everyone is stepping up a gear now, all aiming to take the spoils at the first meeting of the 2013 season. And what a cracking start it always is, with horses travelling from all over the UK and Ireland
This week we appear to have acquired another horse. At no point did The Boss convey to me that we were expecting any other horse to join the team; in fact, this oversight may have been because The Boss himself didn’t know we were expecting any other horse to join the team. When I arrived on Monday afternoon, The Boss’ friend Wesley’s vehicle and box were parked on the yard. Melinda’s double stable had been split in half by closing the partition doors, and there was a freshly bedded down empty stable by the crossties. It’s not uncommon for Wesley to bring a horse over just to work out on the track, however I probably should have put two and two together to get four. Freshly made up and empty stable, no sign of anyone on the yard, all ‘my’ horses in their stables…yes, the clues were there. Within minutes The Boss and Wesley appeared on the yard with a rather scruffy looking little grey horse in tow.
The little fella, I soon found out, was a purchase from the sale in
By Thursday, BJ looked like a different horse. He now looks like a ball of grey fluff, with a fluffy little head, and fluffy little legs. He’s small and sweet-natured enough, and although The Boss says he threw a few tantrums in the crossties and up the track, the method of ignoring him as if he was a child throwing his toys out of the pram seems to have worked, because once he realised he wasn’t being met with any resistance he quickly resumed normal business. I think it’s fair to say The Boss is pleased with his progress.
Another horse who seems to be coming along quietly now is Bongo. Due to the events that occurred during the breaking in of Bongo, The Boss has been very wary of him. Apparently he has a ‘wild look’ in his eyes, because you can sometimes see a tiny bit of the whites of his eyes. Now I think that’s just a mildly alarmed look, one that I quite often have on my face when I see the state of the youth of today. I think Bongo must feel the same as me about such matters because we share this alarmed facial expression. I have found him to also be quite a sweet-natured chap. He will stand with his head over the stable door and let me cuddle him like a teddy bear, which is something I quite like doing and is probably part of the reason my car smells permanently of horses. It also reassures me that I’m building up some sort of bond with these boys.
Derek is still with us. I think it’s fair to say he’s at the end of the breaking process now; he’s pacing without fault and focussed on the job. We’re not entirely sure when he’s supposed to be going back to his owners, so The Boss and me decided yesterday that we might as well just take him to the next workout day at Ammanford. It won’t do him any harm; in fact, it’ll be better for his owners that he’ll have seen all the sights and sounds of a racetrack. Our reason for taking him is just to show everyone that not all of our horses are as hairy as the two we took yesterday *blush*
And so we arrive to Maverick and Big Mac. Yesterday they made their inaugural journey to the track. We *just* managed to wedge Big Mac into the lorry (he’s terribly long), and Maverick thankfully wasn’t put off by the memory that the last time he went anywhere in the lorry it was to be gelded. The Boss had taken scissors to Big Mac’s impressive feathers on Thursday, and then hid the evidence from me by leaving overreach boots on. I’m not that easily fooled and uncovered his handiwork before we set off – you’ll be pleased to know he’d done an alright job.
It was a lovely sunny day at Ammanford, and there was a decent turnout of British Harness and Wales & Borders horses. Maverick ran in the first workout (against Talavary Activator who clocked a time of 2.04 – organisers, if you’re reading this, where’s the sense in putting a three-year-old unqualified horse in with a seasoned speed machine like Activator?! The answer is: there is none. Sort it out!). Anyway, for a first attempt he went well. The Boss said he didn’t think much of all the horses around him when they went up to the starting gate, and he noticeably shortened his stride on the home straight (he actually broke stride on the second lap), although that may be due to the hard surface of the track, but he coped well with the start car itself, the other lorries, the grandstand and shell of the new clubhouse so there was nothing to leave us disappointed with him. 
Big Mac then ran in the fourth workout, against the Tregaron Classic Final winner Foolaround (again, organisers, seriously?!), and put in an impressive performance despite nearly being knocked off his legs by another driver who somehow couldn’t see Big Mac’s enormous body on his inside, and veered straight into him on the first corner. Big Mac had nowhere to go but the inside of the track, which has white marker poles at regular intervals. Mac decided that the best way to tackle the white pole in front of him would be to jump it – so he did. From where his owners and me were standing, it looked as if he was about to hit the deck. For a split second all I could think was ‘he’s going to fall on the furthest part of the track from where I am…I’m going to have to run in public’. Thankfully for us all (because frankly, nobody wants to see me run – what do you do with your arms?!) he regained his stride without losing too much ground and completed the rest of the mile in a comfortable and steady pace. He clocked a time of 2.15, which would be just outside the qualifying time; taking into account his jump, halt and attempt to rebalance himself, had he been running in a qualifier without incident he would have come in within the requisite time. Most importantly though, Mac did it all without a second thought; he approached the start car in the ‘3’ position (two horses inside him, two horses outside him), he took the corners easily despite his long stride and apart from the mishap with the clearly blind driver, he never broke stride either. He also didn’t take offence at my buckets when he came off the track, unlike Maverick. I couldn’t get within three feet of Maverick’s head with my water bucket because he’s a dingbat. Obviously I’m harbouring crocodiles in the bottom of my water buckets now and if he sticks his head in he’ll get eaten. He’s going to have to spend the week with a bucket in his stable because I can’t cope with him being such a diva at the races.
Finally, we must quickly discuss Jingo. Mr Grumpy got his knickers in a twist yesterday morning because we left without him. For a short while The Boss and me actually contemplated chucking him on the lorry and taking him with us, it would serve him right for kicking up such a fuss when we took Maverick and Big Mac out. Then we remembered that he’s only been with us for four weeks and he’s still looking like a little pudding. Besides, I think it would do him some good not to get his own way. He’s behaving like a spoilt child at the moment because he’s clocked that Dark Fox (Sammy), the stable star and all-round favourite, isn’t back and therefore he thinks he's top dog! Look at that face!
So this coming week I’m hoping to bite the bullet and get on Big Mac, and we’re planning to head to Ammanford again with him and Derek on Saturday. Depending on whether or not the workout day at Leominster
Over and out,
Sarah (#1 Groom)
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