It is rather a while since I've written about the horses. No they hav'n't been 'resting' ... Kurty has been up at Kyle Cameron's place, running solidly round in circles with no fuss and not a lot of forwardeness. He will not, says Kyle, 'make a young horse'. His great-uncle came 4th in the Trotting Stakes and ran (or got knocked over) in the Jewels in his year .. then we brought the French stallion Love You into the blood line and ... well, Kurty's mama was an exceptionally tall mare, legs up to her chin, which were her undoing ... please, don't say this wee chappie is going to be a giant.
Anyway, we went up last weekend to see him do his lazy loop round the track. He's beautiful. But, alas, with racehorses 'beauty is as beauty does'. And then he came home, and is peaceably eating our green grass (yes, much of Canterbury is beige to yellow, but we always have grass), and lying down an awful lot. I hope he's not growing more ..
And then there is Emily. Last season we had great hopes of Emily. Her 3 year-old form was excellent, and she came back with a smashing win at Ashburton. That was at the end of last year. Since then she had had ten starts. Apart from the odd 'accident', she has not run what you might call 'badly' and she has finished mostly on the tail of some nice horses (and some who have made remarkable improvement). But ... well, But.
Well, if she were not to be competitive in Canterbury, I decided we would have to send her where she WAS competitive. Contacts were made with trainers in both islands. She had Ashburton (again) and two races at Rangiora to show us that she still had the "it" that our dear, late Murray Edmonds had spied in her.
Wendy, more practically, said 'get her blood done'.
The blood analysis showed that she had muscle tie-up and ... treatment ($$$) went into action immediately.
A week later it was Ashburton. Same old rivals and we were the rank outsider of ten! And drawn two, next to my favourite horse (except ours) in New Zealand: PRINCE TEKA! Driven by .. Kyle Cameron. Hah! I said to him, 'lead and trail?' Wendy said the same to our then default driver, Jimmy.
And guess what! That's exactly what happened. We got out first, Kyle came round and we trotted merrily and briskly around in front ... well, you can watch it here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJEcPlBFF5w&t=4s
Rank outsider? Insult. She showed them!
That's her, in yellow ...
So, now we are 27 April. She will run tomorrow at Rangiora, from a filthy draw. And without Jimmy who has jumped off her (for the second time) in favour of another horse. OK. Fair enough. But I think we need a new default driver .... Em will be driven for her next two starts by the (slightly-going-to-fat) junior driver, Tom Bamford, who drove such a nice race on her in the Darren de Filippi Memorial.
Two more races and then ... is 'home' still Motukarara? Or is it Bulls or Invergiggle ...?
Watch this space!
Later:
Well we've had one nitty run and one gritty. I'll be brief.
28 April. Horrendous draw and start ... but Em got away best of the back row .. which thanks to the dumb starter wasn't a second row, but a 10-20 metres handicap. Starters round here are getting less and less competent. We need the French system .. anyway she ran anonymously ... Invergiggle loomed ...
5 May.. Tom got sidelined by domestic issues. So Carter Dalgety took the bike for the Junior drivers race. We were 5/5 in the betting at 20/1. We're getting used to that. Well, after an iffy start (losing 6-7 lengths), Carter gave her every chance. She loomed up on the turn, was third with yards to run, but got zapped by the waiters and finished 5th.
June. And the gritty won. She is not herself. So we brought her home, bought our dear partners out, and as soon as her new trainer gets back from her honeymoon she's off to Invercargill ...
Right now, she and Kurty and sharing the fairly green grass of Gerolstein ..
Addendum: Emily has prospered in her new southern home, and won two races, finished second twice and fifth in a Group race ... nearly $20,000 in prize money!
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