Timely reminder to expect the unexpected
Where horses are concerned, you just have to expect the unexpected and there was a very scary incident at Punchestown on Wednesday which served as a reminder of how unpredictable they are.
Kathleen’s Fancy was riderless, having fallen in the second race. Just as she was coming up to the last bend, she decided to run through the plastic railing and then jumped over the gate into the enclosure.
Unfortunately, she ran loose into the betting ring and hit one spectator who will, hopefully, be okay.
There was no way really of preventing that from happening. One of mine nearly did it at the festival, except she only half jumped the gate and got stuck there.
That gate has been there for years and I don’t think a horse has ever jumped it and broken loose amongst the general public like that. I know Punchestown are investigating whether there is something they can do but sometimes horses do things you can’t foresee.
Then there are times when factors even more out of your control take over.
Take our work on the Curragh yesterday. Fran Berry was riding a filly for us and had just jumped off about five strides on a canter when the stirrup irons snapped on both sides.
Fran fell off but, thankfully, he was alright, although I’d say he is a bit stiff and sore today.
The filly though was only embarking on a whole new adventure and got on the road at the bottom of the Old Vic gallop on the Newbridge side of The Curragh. She jumped the cattle grid and headed for the motorway. She thought about taking the Dublin exit but eventually headed for Newbridge instead and was caught outside the HRI offices.
I was actually oblivious to all this going on as I was at the top of the gallops waiting for them to come up. Eventually, we went to TRI and bought new irons, Fran sat up and they finished work.
But it does make you think. If they hadn’t gone for a canter first, those stirrups might have broken when they were going flat out on some fast work on the gallops.
Those stirrup irons are supposed to be stainless steel. How would I know looking at them if they were going to break? There’s no way of knowing. And really, it’s not supposed to happen.
All you can do is cover as many bases as possible and hope for the best after that. Of course these things are very rare but this week was a reminder that they can happen.
The breeze-up sales at Goresbridge on Friday was very well organised event. Everything breezed well and there was no hanging around. The two we picked up were an Encosta De Lago filly and a Whywhywhy colt. They’re down at the stud at the moment and will come up to the yard on Monday.
The filly was fine after but the colt was completely shattered and he lay down for the day. They’re only babies when they go to the breeze-ups. They’re taken from their environment, galloped, then galloped again. You have the loud speakers which they wouldn’t be used to. After that they’re loaded and transported to the sales area if it’s in a different place as was the case last week, where they galloped in Gowran and the sales were in Goresbridge.
BREEZE-UPS are a relatively new form of selling horses and they’re popular because when you buy there, they’re ready to run. I remember a horse called Jolly Snake that was bought at a breeze-up in Kempton that finished second to my two-year-old Moment of Weakness in Dundalk first time out and then followed up with a win. So you can get to the track quickly with them, and if your judgement is right, start getting a return almost immediately.
I had another couple of seconds this week. Harvest Moone ran a good race in the bumper for Kate, while Gimli’s Rock was very unlucky to be just caught on the line in the big handicap at The Curragh, where he was beaten by a short head. He was in front everywhere bar the finishing line.
He will take a mini-break now and be back for the 1½ mile Premier Handicap on Derby day. The problem is that he gone up another four pounds in the handicap and he’s creeping up all the time without actually winning a race which is a little unfair.
The Guineas weekend went very well for The Curragh. The weather was great and as I predicted, the crowds responded. Of course the racing was top-class. Canford Cliffs is a very good horse, Fame and Glory looked back to his best and Jan
Vermeer looked very good too.
I have one runner in Navan today. Cloneylass is a two-year-old filly who’ll be having her first run so it’ll be interesting to see how she goes.
We have five going in Leopardstown tomorrow. Zarinava will have a good chance in the handicap and will really love the ground. Sandymount Lady would have a chance too but the important thing is that they all run good races and we’ll see then where that brings them.
Meanwhile, I will be in Tattersalls today, as I was yesterday, as Kate is competing. She takes eventing very seriously, just as she does the race riding. She’s had a few seconds in bumpers the last couple of weeks but while you’d like to convert those to wins, second definitely beats coming last.
