Monday 16th June 2025

The summer is in full swing here at MCR. Lots of horses on their holidays but plenty of summer horses are in training and keeping us busy!

We’ve had a few runners the last couple of weeks…

Land Girls Luck won nicely at Southwell on Monday and took advantage of a final flight fall from Janworth. Luckly he was alright and LGL was able to pick up the pieces and won her race by 8 lengths for owner Richard Bailey and ridden by Jack Wilmot… Sometimes we need some luck and even more so if you’re called Land Girls Luck! When Richard Bailey and I named LGL, we had joked that we needed some luck after some bad luck with previous horses and perhaps we finally had our overdue good luck spell last Monday!

Our yard amateur, Jack Wilmot, rode LGL to win. Jack was unlucky on her the week before at Stratford when his saddle slipped when going well and he had to pull her up. Jack is only a young jockey, but a nice rider so we are keen to support him where we can and help him along his way, and LGL’s owner, Richard Bailey, was very forgiving to give him another chance after the mishap the week before. A great day all round.

Jullou De Grissay ran at Warwick under regular rider James King and finished 3rd. He was running a nice race until the others quickened away from him coming down the hill. He will be better suited to a flat track and has had a long season having won twice for us in the winter. A enjoyable day with Katie and Tim Sunderland, Helen and Alan Mobley.

This Sway ran an absolutely fantastic race on his debut at Worcester under Liam Harrison for owner Kendal Tyre. We bought This Sway as a 2yo after a nice mare Ken and I owned together won on debut and sold well while we were training point to pointers. We broke him in and gave him a good education to become a very trainable, laid back horse which ran a great race on debut. He turned in on the bridle and showed some greenness when he hit the front but was beaten by horses that had racecourse experience and will improve for the run. A very exciting horse going forward and we must mention David Bass who has done a lot of the work on him and unfortunately couldn’t ride as he headed to Hexham.

We also ran And Still I Rise on the same card that wasn’t suited by the rain softened ground.

Rockadenn also ran his last race at Hexham and finished 4th. Rockadenn will be retired now and we will find him a lovely non racing home. Rockadenn has been a fantastic horse over the years, having been rated 141 at best and running in some good races originally in France, then over here for Paul Nicholls, then back to France and finally back to England. He is a horse thats been plagued with niggles, but a beautiful horse that deserves the best of retirements which we will ensure he will get. Rockadenn finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th and 6th for us in the twilight of his career, but unfortunately we didn’t win with him. He has been a very fun horse for Richard and John who make up SW Racing.

Au Fleuron finished 3rd at Market Rasen on Friday where the ground ended up being on the quicker side, but we were keen to get a positive run under his belt after a disaster at Cheltenham for poor Aimee Jones earlier in the season. Unfortunately Aimee was unable to ride as she is currently in France but David Bass took over and looked after Au Fleuron.

And finally Lady Fortune ran in the last at Market Rasen. LF ran a good race for a long way. She travelled into the race very nicely but just didn’t have the speed to go with the winner. She wasn’t far beaten and i’m sure she will be a better horse in time and we are learning all the time about her. Colin Burr and the team of BDR Syndicates were well represented and had a lovely evening in the sunshine. BDR are a brilliant syndicate and tremendously run by Colin and the team with plenty of great members and horses all over the country. There are shares available in Lady Fortune so please do get in touch with Colin if you would like to get involved in a cracking syndicate.

https://bdrsyndicates.com/contact_us.php

Market Rasen also had Scouting For Girls playing after racing which made for a great evening for Owners, racing fans and the general public.

And on the point to pointers side of the yard…

Catwalk Girl finished a close 2nd in the mares final at Chaddesley Corbett under James King and puts herself in the mix for the £5,000 jockey club bonus. A great incentive for the mares going from the point to point field to under rules.

Gallant Geronimo continued his consistent form and finished 3rd at the welsh international meeting and 3rd at Bratton Down under regular talented rider, Aimee Jones.

A few entries coming up this week

No Guarantee is entered at Stratford tomorrow for his first run for us. A tall order from out of the handicap but hopefully he will improve from the run. Liam Harrison rides.

Bebside Banter also makes his yard debut for a new syndicate called The B-Sides. Bebside Banter looks a fun, consistent type and will be a entertaining summer for members of The B-Sides. We have 1 share remaining so please get in touch to get involved.

Jullou De Grissay is also entered at Market Rasen on Friday

This Sway also holds an entry at Market Rasen.

Land Girls Luck is also entered at Bangor and hopes to follow up her win at Southwell last week.

Royal Ascot begins on Tuesday but before then the boutique Goffs London Sale kicks off the week in style with the top lot fetching £2,000,000 to Amo racing! A brilliant week, fantastic for the sport and certainly flat racings shop window. I do feel jumps racing could do with more festivals throughout the year. Flat racing are a brilliant example with Ascot, Goodwood, York etc but over jumps we only have Cheltenham and Aintree which are 3 weeks apart!

Moving on, Sales season has been upon us with Goffs Doncaster sales in May, Goffs Arkle sale last week and Tattersalls Derby Sale coming up, we are always looking for new recruits to join the yard. We were lucky enough to pick out a 3yo called Libre Max at Goffs May sale which was the stand out horse for me and i’m delighted to of been able to add him to our team of youngsters for this upcoming season. Libre Max has been broken in here at HQ and is now in the field for a well deserved break before coming into training in 6 weeks time. We put a lot of time into the recruitment of young horses and if you would be interested in a horse, please get in touch.

David Bass and I ventured out of the Cotswolds on Thursday to Birmingham to meet Richard Sheppard for a very enjoyable lunch. Richard kindly arranged us a lift back from his new VIP travel business which picked us up form the door and drove us back to Cheltenham in comfort. A service which is new to me but i could highly recommend to anyone looking for a luxury chauffeur to Royal Ascot this week, or indeed any other events in the future.

https://vipexectravelmids.co.uk/

We are forecast a beautiful week with highs of 28 degrees!

Enjoy the sunshine.

Max