Harness Racing Training 2015 - a quick update

[Crosshill Pacers]

Just a quick one sorry guys, wanted to keep you all in the loop.

Week 2 has gone well, I jogged Star over the weekend for the first time in 3 years and it was great, she is so keen and into her work right now. J says she's doing everything he asks of her. Up to 20 minutes daily jogging at present.

Things took a bit of a crazy turn today and for the next few weeks Star will be getting trained by a very good friend of ours, a young lad called George. George is a professional trainer at 20, with a string of winners under his belt with both his own horses and horses owned by outsiders. He is the only person I would trust her with really.

The reason I've had to send her away is because this morning I had a call from a racing friend. He had been called by a friend of his who is the local 'meat man', offering him first chance of a horse he had picked up to be knacked. The guy realised from the passport that the horse was a Standardbred and thought my friend might want a shot of the horse before he knacked him. The horse's name was Merrington Missile.

My friend had rung me to see if the horse had been sold for any reason that would mean he couldn't race, as he remembered me talking about him a while back. Said he'd give him a shot rather than see him dead.

I was straight on the phone to J, basically in shock, and he told me to do what I knew deep down I needed to do.

Missile is now standing in his old stable, having evicted Star. I didn't want to give up training Star but I knew J and me couldn't do everything we needed to do for training with an extra horse on the yard. George has really done me a turn and will return Star ready to start her fast work and get ready to requalify.

So I am now the proud owner of Missile. Again. I know cats have nine lives but this horse must have a few. That's the second time I've saved his sorry backside.

Posts about Star will be sporadic at best, but I'll be visiting her regularly so will try to keep you updated.

Thanks for reading.

Sarah, Star & Missile

 

[Polar Bear9]

Yay, Missiles back Sadly forever homes often don't seem to work out. I follow your threads religiously although I don't comment often, it's a fascinating insight into an equine discipline most people don't know anything about

 

[silv]

Lucky horse. Sadly Standardbreds go off to the meatman by the truckload every week over here. Some make very nice riding horses but there are far more available than what there are homes. Also there is a lot of snobbery towards them as riding horses which doesn't help. Quite a few are doing well at Competitive Trail Riding in this part of the country.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Don't really know what to say ....... but good for you, and as for Missile, I think he has that special standardbred quality, not so much endearing, more enduring
Can we get a nice photo of him, and Star too, ty

 

[Crosshill Pacers]

Polar Bear - I'm trying to showcase the sport as much as I can at the moment. We have a new administration at the top of the governing body and they are making massive leaps forward in terms of getting the sport recognised for funding etc. and have set up working arrangements with international racing authorities in America, Canada, France and Australia. Things are going in the right direction. I'm also the Vice Chairman of the Scottish Harness Racing Club (long story as to how I ended up doing that) and we are potentially holding a showcase event at Musselburgh Racecourse in September prior to an evening flat meeting which may be televised. Currently a work in progress.

Silv - I know all about horses going to the meat man unfortunately. When I worked for a public trainer we had a horse who was broken to ride and trained under saddle but was sold on to a man up north for racing. Change of scenery did him good as he'd gone a bit stale and he won a couple of races. A few months later, while I was working for the breed society (STAGBI) I was updating the system with passports sent from the slaughterhouses. I came across that horse's passport. His racing career had been called to an end as he had again gone stale (and was quite frankly handicapped out of being competitive by a poor handicap system which we are all still trying to change) but his owner had never considered selling him as a rider. That was the day I set up the Facebook page and began publishing stories and photos of Standardbreds who had successful second careers off the track. This showed people who didn't know the breed that they were one trick ponies, and people who raced them that there was a potential market for them if they gave them a chance. That is still a work in progress. But it is why each and every one of the racehorses we have with us is backed and going under saddle when we finish racing them (if we don't sell them while they are still racing).

*By the way, I am not against horses going to be knacked where the circumstances are suitable, i.e. the horse is no longer fit for purpose or there is genuinely no market for it. Better than horses being passed from pillar to post and abused/neglected along the way. In this instance, Missile is still sound, he's 6 years old, he's an absolute stunner and he's a real joy to ride. Still fit for purpose.

Bonkers - I'm referring to him as a boomerang; he keeps coming back to me! Here's some photos of the two:

Star jogging Saturday:

Star:

I know she stands terribly cow-hocked, as did her mother. When she walks you don't see it at all and she doesn't do it in trot or pace either. She's never knocked herself and has always raced without boots. She's very clean-gaited, but simply stands like that and it looks terrible!

Missile (from last September as he isn't really looking too great at the moment):

And one of him back in his stable last night:

Those ears though!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Poor boy , glad he found you again.
I will go to Musselburgh if you can arrange a meet, its a lovely racecourse.
You might get some driving people interested in standardbreds , as long as they don't pace they should be good in competition driving or for pleasure.

 

[Crosshill Pacers]

There is usually an annual 2 day harness racing meeting at Musselburgh, however this year it has had to be cancelled due to track repairs on the jumps course. The purpose of the 'showcase' 2 races in September would be to drum up interest in anticipating of the 2016 renewal meeting. If it all goes ahead (we have an initial committee meeting next Tuesday evening to figure it out) I shall keep you posted

I'm working on something I like to call: 'Embrace the pace!'.