2022 has started positively for us with 2 runners at Ayr yesterday. First up was Tough Out making his debut under National Hunt rules. He jumped and travelled really well and stayed on up the long home straight just to be caught on the line to finish third. He is a lovely big young horse who should make a really nice staying chaser in time. He runs for the High Country Racing syndicate which has spaces available. In the next…

We are delighted to say we are now officially training from Firth Farm, Lilliesleaf in the Scottish Borders. The move took a while with the re-roofing of a shed, new stables and dismantling of previous stabling at Conglass but all the horses have moved and we have now settled into life at Firth. We have been a bit slow with our social media and website updates but will try to keep them up-to-date a little more now. Its been a…

We have had to deal with sub zero temperatures pretty much every day from Christmas to Valentines Day.. Early February has been the hardest with temperatures down to -17C followed by about a foot of snow. This was followed by strong winds over the weekend which caused a lot of drifting. We have managed to exercise the horses daily but have been very restricted in where we could go with them and what we could do. Credit has to go…

It seems that January has been one long battle against the minus temperatures everyday. With gritting the yard, defrosting water pipes, harrowing the gallops and a list of other extra jobs just to get the horses to and from work , there has been a huge effort by all the team just to get the horses exercised and cared for.We have had a few entered for various meetings but these have been abandoned either for frost or water logging or…

We trust that everyone was able to have a bit of fun over the festive period and wish all our readers all the best for 2021 – hard to imagine that it can be worse for everyone than 2020 but who knows!It feels like we have been struggling against the weather for weeks now. With hard frosts most days at the moment it takes a lot of work simply to get the horses out on exercise let alone work them…

Patrick and Lucy took Whoa Black Betty to Musselburgh on the 21st of December to run in a Conditional Jockeys “Hands and Heels” Handicap Hurdle. It was Betty’s first attempt at the trip and her first trip to Musselburgh. Ridden by up and coming young jockey,Liam Harrison she jumped superbly and travelled really well despite being bumped and bashed a bit down the back straight . She picked it up two out and ran on well to see out the…

On a very damp cold day on Sunday the 13th December we were pleased with Dunnottar Castle who finished 3rd on his hurdles debut. ( despite the commentator constantly mispronouncing his name!). He jumped very exuberantly and gave each hurdle a lot of respect! He cleared them all by about 2 feet! He was giving away quite a lot of ground as a result but should be a lot slicker next time. He travelled down well and took the overnight…

On Sunday we ran a couple of horses at Kelso on the 6th of December . Any Job Will Do made both his stable and racecourse debut and Whoa Black Betty in a handicap hurdle. Betty ran an uncharacteristically disappointing race and was pulled up having never really travelled but William (as he is known) ran a pleasing race and although down the field , he travelled and jumped well and showed a very willing attitude. On the 13th of…

We are delighted to welcome new arrival Sputnik to the yard for a new syndicate . He is an attractive 5 year old by Recital who has had a couple Irish Point to Point runs and a couple of runs in bumpers in Ireland. He should handle soft ground so will go over hurdles through the winter.

Last week provided us with one of the best weeks we’ve had in a long time. After what seemed like an eternity without runners due to COVID, we have finally been getting back to our usual busy summer with the jumpers. And to top it all off we had two winners in one week, which has given the team a well deserved boost. A winner is always a boost but when, especially as a small yard, you have two in…