As the title suggests, the team has had to say goodbye to two members in the last week. I arrived at the yard on Monday to the news that Sammy (Dark Fox) and Bongo (Buckland Foxtrot) returned home to their owner Mervyn’s farm after the racing at Amman Valley on Sunday. Sammy had apparently faded badly in the race and it was agreed by The Boss and Mervyn to send him home because continuing to race a horse that isn’t responding to training and various tips and tricks simply wouldn’t be fair. The Boss told me that Mervyn would continue to ride him and perhaps he’d come out again towards the end of the season if he improved, however I have a horrible feeling I may not see Sammy again. I’ll have to make a point of going to visit him before I head to Scotland next year because Sammy to me has been the epitome of all that is good about harness racing (and bad, if you look at the often bizarre handicap lift system). He’s a professional who treats every visit to the races as a day at the office – leave home, go out, do your job and come home. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve turned to horses at the lorry and said ‘Why can’t you just stand quietly like Sammy hey?’! He will always remain my absolute favourite, although in the interests of fairness and equality I’ve only ever told him that up the cross-ties where the other horses can’t hear me!
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| Sammy having a snooze before racing |
Bongo on the other hand returned home under different circumstances. You may recall that The Boss had previously told me that Bongo was ‘better than his brother’ [Hamish], and I’d responded by telling him the horse would need to go better than 2.04.5 around Ammanford to do that (as Hamish had won a fortnight earlier in that time). On his first run there he cruised around in 2.09, and then followed that run up with a slightly disastrous attempt at Allensmore last week where he decided he’d done enough after five furlongs. On Sunday he was in a qualifier with a horse that was running a ‘test’ drive for his driver, and in circumstances such as this the older horse will go off a lot faster than the genuine qualifying horses as it is usually an open handicap horse (i.e. not a maiden or novice). The horse in question was Rhyds Panache, who has won several races this year for David Bevan. The Boss tells me that Bongo went straight to the front and settled; along the back straight on the first lap Rhyds Panache’s driver tried to overtake but Bongo held him out so he pulled back. They remained like this for the remainder of that lap and the start of the next, when the other driver again pulled out to overtake Bongo. The Boss could see the other driver getting on at his horse, using the whip and shouting etc, yet he was sat quietly on Bongo and still holding Rhyds Panache out. He once again failed to get past and made one last challenge coming down the home straight, where The Boss made the decision not to push Bongo as it was only his third time on the track. Rhyds Panache won the qualifier by half a length, however it sounds as though there was quite a difference in the way the horses were brought home. More interestingly the qualifier went 2.03.2 which means that, as The Boss predicted, Bongo went faster than Hamish (approximately 2.03.5). Ammanford is a fast track now with horses regularly clocking sub-two minute miles, however it’s impressive from Bongo for the following reasons:
* He is a green three year old, with this only his third time on the track;
* He needs to grow and fill out, as he’s not the strongest;
* A fortnight earlier he raced in 2.09 - in that space of time he managed to improve his PB by nearly six seconds;
* He did it so easily. As The Boss said, he didn’t want to ‘knock him about’.
He’s now gone home to eat, relax, grow and get himself ready to qualify next April in time for the first race meeting at Tregaron. The Boss thinks he’s got the next Meadowbranch Josh on his hands. I think he might be right.
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| Bongo checking out the competition |
In exchange for these two, Mervyn sent Hamish (Bucklands Foxy Boy) back to the yard to see whether we can fire him up a little. When I walked out to the stables he was lying down having a siesta:
So coming over to us hasn’t had the desired effect just yet! It might be the stable though, as this stable was Meadowland Tom’s and we used to have to try to lift him in the mornings because he would be in such a deep sleep (the only giveaway that he hadn’t popped his clogs during the night was his ears flicking when you shouted at him to shift his lazy backside!).
In other news, Pinky has headed home to Wesley’s, so we’re now down to six horses in total, with three currently racing, one due to go to a qualifier in the coming weeks and two on box rest (one being Laddie the yearling).
Next stop – back to Aberystwyth for the Tan-y-Castell meeting on Sunday. Three horses to take, plus Mrs B’s stupendous hat ready for the ‘Best Dressed Lady’ competition.
Over and out,
Sarah (#1 Groom)
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