2011 Archive - That was the year, that was.

Friday 16th December: Winter descends in the form of cold, wet, horrible snow but the show goes on and the 2 yearling fillies trot round the yard unperturbed.

All weather racehorses: Royal Applause and Proclamation fillies go solo

Wednesday 14th December: He may not be very big, the Bertolini yearling out of Torver, but he is extremely brave as he negotiates life in the outside world for the first time.

A little man in a big world

Monday 12th December: Last but not least: the Royal Applause filly makes it out into the yard with rider on board. She takes it all in her stride.

Four out of four: yearlings all backed.

Sunday 11th December: The last of the yearling quartet, our Royal Applause filly out of La Fanciulla was backed this week.  Now it's per ardua ad astra for the team.

Up and away we go: Royal Applause yearling

Wednesday 7th December: Another milestone reached....the Proclamation filly is backed and ridden in the barn. She is a size or 2 larger than the colts and looks grand with a rider on board!

Backed for the future: Proclamation filly takes her first steps ridden

Friday 2nd December: We are well on the way with the breaking in of 4 yearlings ear-marked for syndication. The 2 colts by Tobougg and Bertolini are ridden away and the 2 fillies by Proclamation and Royal Applause will soon be backed. We've been blessed with reasonable weather so far this Autumn which has meant no hold-ups...........yet!  Follow the link for a little more information on these young horses. Click here for direct link. 

Monday 28th November: The December Sales are rolling along at Tattersalls with yearlings and foals going under the hammer last week and breeding stock taking to the ring this week. An attractive Sleeping Indian colt foal was knocked down to the 'lady' of Red House Stables last Wednesday on behalf of Scargill Jnr who has him syndicated to a shrewd group of pinhooking associates.
The yearlings here continue their education with the Bertolini colt backed and the 2 fillies by Royal Applause and Proclamation not far behind.

Learning the ropes: Bertolini colt and Royal Applause and Proclamation fillies.

Sunday 20th November:  Today we hosted the first of 3 weekends of owner 'get-togethers' for a chat,  a Newmarket sausage,  a mince pie and perhaps a little horse-trading. Good to see some familiar faces and we look forward to seeing more visitors over the next fortnight.

Saturday 12th November: Leaps and bounds (only figuratively fortunately) with the breaking in of the yearlings with the first of the current quartet being backed today and the other 3 all being driven in long reins.

Good friend: Tobougg ex Four-Legged Friend walking & trotting on rein then ridden away

Royal Applause ex La Fanciulla & Bertolini ex Torver in drive mode.

Tuesday 8th November: Encouraging that the Royal Applause yearling (and therefore CARPENTRAS) had a nice pedigree update from the first at Doncaster on Saturday. The winner Tartiflette is out of Bright Moll, a sister to CARPENTRAS and to the dam of the new filly.

Friday 4th November: What a busy week! A trip to Doncaster Sales on Tuesday saw us return with a pretty bay Royal Applause yearling filly out of La Fanciulla. This makes her a niece to CARPENTRAS!

Wednesday 25th October: SILENT APPLAUSE was fourth in his race at Brighton last Thursday. He ran extremely well and earned his young apprentice jockey David Kenny some points in the series of which the race was a part. He also earned his loyal owners a small amount of prize money and brought his tally of racecourse places to 12 to add to the 2 famous wins at Newmarket and Epsom. Now an 8 year old having raced for 5 years it is time to give him the chance to enjoy retirement while sound and in good health. His enthusiasm for training is less and, although he still ran well on Thursday, he is not the force of old.  

SILENT APPLAUSE: Worth a shout! (photos courtesy of Meilton photography)

Doc and roller: PROCLAMATION filly coming along nicely

Sunday 23rd October: Pleasing progress is being made with the two yearling colts. The Tobougg out of Four-Legged Friend is a confident little fellow and is already being driven in long reins. The Bertolini colt behaved well when rollered yesterday and with any luck will be hard on heels of his contemporary.

Tobougg yearling colt in long reins and Bertolini yearling colt rollered

Wednesday 5th October: Roller applied to the Tobougg yearling early this morning....successfully. (To follow the process of breaking in click here for our HOW TO page on that very subject) The colt made us aware of his presence for a second or two with some major acrobatics and then settled down to the job in hand for which we were most grateful!

Still friends: TOBOUGG ex FOUR-LEGGED FRIEND rollered, walked and washed

Monday 3rd October: Work starts for the yearling colt by Tobougg out of Four-Legged Friend. We get to know each other with a gentle lunge both anti-clockwise and then clockwise. At the end we all remain friends. A good start.

Hi ho off to work I go: Tobougg colt out of Four-Legged Friend

Sunday 2nd October: Yesterday saw us make the most of the exceptional, and exceptionally welcome, warm weather with some early morning work and cool wash downs.

Late summer sun: JUNKET and ELBOW BEACH, SALT KETTLE, BIG NOISE

Wednesday 28th September: It is always exciting to welcome a new horse to the yard and our latest arrival definitely stirs the emotions. A yearling colt by Tobougg out of Four-Legged Friend, he is the final foal of our first ever winner and a brother to HERR TRIGGER. The latter is the mare's first foal and won 8 races for us, earning himself honourable retirement here at Red House Stables. The youngster will begin the breaking in process early in October. In the meantime, he appears to be settling in well.

Finding his feet: yearling colt by Tobougg out of Four-Legged Friend

Thursday 1st September: The first day of Autumn and the weather has been absolutely fabulous. A grand day for a gallop.

DRIVEMODE and ELBOW BEACH

 Wednesday 19th July:

Wet, wet, wet, wet, wet.

Wednesday 6th July:  At last we find a minute to travel over to see our mare TORVER, her new Bertolini colt foal and the yearling full brother. We were very glad we did. They all looked extremely well.

Bertolini ex Torver yearling (head and with pals). Bertolini ex Torver foal foolish enough to bite the hand that feeds, then makes a new friend

Wednesday 22nd June: ELBOW BEACH has been declared for her debut appearance her at HQ on Friday. She is one of 12 runners, 9 of which are unraced so she'll be in the same boat as the majority of her opponents.

Stalls practice for ELBOW BEACH. Next time it's for real!

Saturday 11th June: If you are interested in following DEADLY SILENCE'S trip to the races last time on Newmarket's Rowley Course follow the link to the Financial Times website to see what he and we got up to. Click here for direct link.

Friday 10th June: It wasn't entirely straightforward for CARPENTRAS  yesterday at Nottingham. She has the assistance of the blindfold and the 'Monty Roberts' rug for stall entry and she was successfully positioned ready for the off when one of her fellow contestants decided to dispense with jockey and saddle and run loose on the course for 10 minutes. To her credit (she is not the most even-tempered of animals) she stood still in the dark the entire time and proceeded to run a most encouraging race finishing 7th of the remaining 15 runners.

CARPENTRAS: not bothered by Nottingham stalls nightmare

Wednesday 18th May: It was a more than satisfactory racecourse debut for CARPENTRAS at Kempton yesterday evening. She is a filly with ability and masses of character! We have had to negotiate with her on one or two matters to keep her on side, including the use of a 'Monty Roberts' blanket at the starting stalls. She kept to her side of the bargain, however, and behaved herself well on the journey up and down the motorway, during the preparation for the race and in the race itself. 

CARPENTRAS: no dramas

Tuesday 10th May: A day to come out of the trenches, put differences and shorthand books aside and face the foe. The Racing Post took to the cricket field to confront the old foe, the Newmarket trainers, in an annual skirmish which saw the hacks beat the horsemen in majestic style.

Howzat? Men of letters (fielding) rout the locals

Monday 9th May: Another fine day and an uneventful morning out with the horses, which is always a relief on a Monday.

Monday fun: (from left) CARPENTRAS, SANCTUM, DEADLY SILENCE, SILENT APPLAUSE

Monday 25th April: A bank holiday baby for our mare TORVER, who produced a Bertolini full-brother to her first foal. Neither arrived very promptly in the world. Number one was a maddening 5 weeks late and number 2 kept everyone waiting 2 1/2 weeks.

Late on parade: TORVER greets yesterday evening's arrival

Thursday 21st April: Back over t'other side again to use the stalls and the mission started yesterday was accomplished today. CARPENTRAS has needed a little assistance with stalls work but has warmed to the task. She was kitted out with a 'Monty Roberts' rug and hood and shot out of the starting gate with great enthusiasm alongside her companion.

She wears it well: CARPENTRAS on Wednesday all dressed up and in she goes

What a difference a day makes: CARPENTRAS goes in, jumps out with friend. Job done

Wednesday 20th April: A rare sortie to the 'other side of town' for some stalls practice today. It was a chilly, misty, mysterious morning. And then the sun came out!

All in a morning's work: mist on Bury side and sunshine on racecourse side

Monday 4th April:

The best view in racing: horses galloping on a fine spring morning

Monday 28th March: A fair number of reasons to be cheerful, no complaints about the weather and a wonderfully long, light evening to boot.

The sun shines on Newmarket Heath

Thursday 24th March: The weather has finally come up trumps over the last few days. The daffodils are definitely dancing and yet more owners have been spotted out on gallops.

Boys and girls out to play: watchful eyes on CARPENTRAS and SANCTUM

Monday 14th March: More spectators again this morning. Very brave they are, too, coming to see their horses out on a Monday morning. As you can see, there can be some dramatic moments as candidly caught by one of our visitors!

Pegasus makes an appearance on Newmarket Heath.

Wednesday 9th March: More owners are beginning to come out of winter hibernation to test the temperatures out on Newmarket Heath. Yesterday's visitors fared a little better than today's. Tuesday was a spot warmer and a good deal less breezy than today. Hopefully, they will be able to see some progress with their horses. Last Sunday was weights and measures day as the first galloping of the year looms large. The horses walk over and pause on the weighbridge until their weight is registered. During the season they are weighed every Sunday as well as before they set off to the races and the day after the race.

Ups and Downs: SALT KETTLE, DEADLY SILENCE and Piccolo ex Glider negotiate the Hamilton Hill

Wednesday 2nd  March:

Thursday 24th February: Spring arrived today and the windows in the barns were duly opened this afternoon for the boys and girls to take in the air.

Grey day, bay day on a beautiful Spring day.

February: Enough sunshine and warmth to turn one or two out during the afternoon. The building in the background is Darley's Seawalker, in the process of construction.

Saturday 12th February: As mid-February approaches, so we increase the workload for those horses ready to take it. Some were out interval training today, with trotting between canters.

Stepping on the gas: CARPENTRAS and SALT KETTLE out doing intervals

Wednesday 9th February: Stepping up the exercise with some of the horses takes its toll!

Sometimes I feel so tired: Piccolo filly catches up on some shut-eye

Sunday 6th February: Horses really do not like the wind and stand with their backs to the blast when turned out. Riding out in windy conditions is not a pleasant experience and the last two days have been testing here in Newmarket.  On the wild, wild Heath the horses are confronted with gusts that knock them off their stride, yet on the less exposed Hamilton Hill behind the yard they are taunted by swirling, twirling crowds of dead leaves, intent on causing maximum anxiety to highly-strung thoroughbreds. What to do?

Up, up and away. BRONX BOMBER and the Piccolo filly choose the Hamilton Hill

Monday 31st January:

Follow me follow: SALT KETTLE and her sister (2 year old by Choisir) take a lead from BIG NOISE

Thursday 27th January:  The Piccolo 2 year old filly is now out cantering in normal tack - no side reins! (see below)

Tuesday 25th January: Exercise was a little less exciting this morning, with no dramas to light up a dull,grey day. Best that way.

Fat-bottomed girls (and the guv'nor and DRIVEMODE) leave the yard first lot

Friday 21st January: Educating young horses is a fascinating process. Knowing what to do with them and when is an inexact science. The Piccolo 2 year old filly has now progressed to a normal bridle (replacing the breaking bridle with key bit) but, as yet, the side reins remain attached.

Next step: Piccolo filly takes on new tack

Saturday 15th January: The end of a satisfactory week of training for the string. The two year old fillies have made good progress and both graduated from the 'yearling grounds' on to 'proper' canters today.

Family outing (below): SALT KETTLE (centre of trio) shows her younger sister the ropes

Monday 10th January:  The improved weather conditions have given us the chance to push on with the team over the last week and the 2 year old fillies continue to progress nicely. They are both clipped so dry off quickly after their exertions. This should help to prevent them from catching a chill. Many of the older horses still have superb coats on them and may not require clipping at all!

Putting their best feet forward: 2 year old fillies out with BRONX BOMBER and SALT KETTLE out with BIG NOISE,DEADLY SILENCE and SILENT APPLAUSE (obscured)

Tuesday 4th January: We have made it to 2011 and wish you all a Happy New Year. It is a relief to return to some sort of a routine with the horses after weeks of frozen weather and breaks for bank holidays.  The now 2 year olds were out performing on the Heath today. The skies may have been grey but the air was blue!

Girls just want to have fun: BRONX BOMBER leads the two year old fillies