Morning Sports fans…
It’s been another cracking week for Team NFR — lots of runners, plenty of action, and brilliant backing from our owners! Let’s take a look at what went down 👇🐎
Sunday 9th november
Sandown success!
On Sunday, myself, Noel and Niamh Fehily headed down to Sandown Park to look after the owners of KADO DE JOIE and HURRICANE PAT.
Kado was first off, he was making his debut over fences and he put in a lovely round of jumping. If you’d said to me this time last year that he’d jump around Sandown like that first time over fences I’d never have believed you. He travelled nicely and looked like he was coming to win the race at the final fence but unfortunately INVINCIBLE NAO jumped across him at the last, which checked his momentum. On the stiff uphill climb it’s always hard to pick up when your momentum is checked, he was beaten a head. He was definitely an unlucky loser on the day.
KADO DE JOIE and his Owners
An hour later we had HURRICANE PAT. We fully expected him to make a winning debut over hurdles — we found a nice opportunity and it was great to get Caoilin Quinn on board for the first time. Caoilin came out, he had a plan in his head to ride him for speed and produce him going to the last and that’s exactly what he did. He was in a bit of a pocket, made room after jumping the second-last, jumped the last well and picked up nicely under just hands and heels to the line.
It’s always nice to get a winner on a Sunday when more people can go racing and we had a great bunch with us. We certainly gave it a proper sing-song and cheer inside the winning connections room at Sandown! It’s always special to have winners, but particularly at Sandown — which is definitely mine and Noel’s favourite racecourse.
Play Video
HURRICANE PAT Winner's video
Tuesday 11th
Owners on the job!
Moving house is never easy, especially when you’ve got a young family and a list of jobs as long as your arm to juggle at the same time. It was time to move on from Child Street the house I bought when I was just 19 years old and upgrade to something a little bigger.
Of course, when you move house there’s always plenty that needs doing and painting is one of those jobs I actually enjoy. The only problem was the number of rooms that needed doing, so I decided to call in some of the owners for backup.
Bill Hutchins, who I play a fair bit of golf with and count as a good friend, kindly offered to help out. We’re still in negotiations about his rate of pay and discussions are ongoing , but whatever I end up giving him I’m confident I’ll win it all back on the golf course and some!!!🙃
When Bill turned up on Tuesday morning, ready to get stuck in, I handed him a ladder and said, “You’ll need this to reach the skirting boards.” 😩 Bill’s not the tallest lad, so naturally the jokes started flying straight away. We’re always taking the mick out of him, but it’s all in good fun.
To be fair, Bill’s a proper grafter and we really appreciate his help. I just hope his final invoice doesn’t make me wish I’d stayed in the old house!
Bill Hutchins and Crossey on the job!
Horses gone back into full training
jasmine bliss & midnight jukebox
This week, we saw JASMINE BLISS go back into full training with Harry Derham, following a three-in-one hobday operation. When she came back in over the summer, she was sounding a bit rattly in her breathing, so we decided to go ahead with the procedure.
A hobday operation means she’ll be out of action for a little while longer, but as she’s a mare who loves proper soft ground, it won’t make too much difference to her season. She’s set to go jumping over fences this year, which is really exciting. We’re delighted to have her back at Harry’s in full work now and hopefully we’ll see her out just after Christmas.
It was also great to see MIDNIGHT JUKEBOX, a beautiful young horse we bought last season, head back into full training this week on Wednesday morning. We’d had a few minor issues with his health that needed sorting, but he’s in great shape now and looking great.
We look forward to welcoming his owners up to Ferg’s soon and hopefully seeing some exciting progress in the months ahead.
friday 14th
ADONEDEAL the Real Deal!!
On Friday, the heavens finally opened, which means we can now get the rest of our team of horses out after waiting so long for softer ground. It’s amazing how it goes from being too quick to suddenly being too soft. You could see it at Cheltenham and Uttoxeter, both of which had morning inspections by on Saturday morning.
But on Friday, Noel headed off to Southwell in torrential rain for Adonedeal’s debut—and our first runner with Olly Murphy, who has been a huge team player since joining us. Adonedeal hasn’t been the most straightforward horse at home. Over the summer with Noel and again at Olly’s, he ended up doing a lot of his work on his own as he gets quite keen as soon as he gets another horse in front of him.
So we left tactics completely to Gavin, depending on how the horse felt going to the start. We dropped him in early, with Gavin keeping him wide and eventually got him settled after the first couple of jumps—tracking the leader and then sitting upsides. One thing this horse does exceptionally well is jump.
Turning into the home straight, the final question was what he would find, given how strong he had travelled through the race. But there was never any doubt. He picked up brilliantly, flew through the wings of the second-last fence and down to the last before going on to win by 5 lengths. Gavin reported afterwards that the run should have just taken the freshness out of him and he’ll hopefully be much more straightforward in future races.
We had a very excited bunch of owners at the track, and it was a brilliant day—not just for the performance, but for getting our first winner for Olly Murphy with our very first runner. Hopefully this horse will continue to progress throughout the season. A great day with a great group of owners.
Play Video
ADONEDEAL Winners video
Saturday 16th
QUEENofthejuke ran at uttoxter
I headed up to Uttoxeter on Saturday morning to watch QUEENOFTHEJUKEBOX run. She’d been in very good form at home and we fully expected her to take all the beating. The race was run quite steadily, but that didn’t really inconvenience us. She travelled nicely- maybe a touch keen in Brendan hands. She jumped reasonably well, though we know she’s capable of better.
It turned into a bit of a dash down the straight and Brendan produced her beautifully. When he did, we expected her to gallop all the way through the line, as she normally would. However as quickly as she got to the front, she faded just as fast, eventually being beaten about 8 lengths. It was a disappointing run as we had expected her to go very close.
That said, she possibly needed her first run; last season she improved plenty for it. It was good to get the first one under her the belt and hopefully we can build from here. She’s a two-time bumper winner and she should definitely be winning races before too long.
QUEENOFTHEJUKEBOX and her Owners
ROCK SENSATION at Cheltenham
Then down at Cheltenham, we ran ROCK SENSATION in the bumper. We were expecting her to run a very big race; the only real question mark was the ground. She jumped off towards the rear exactly as planned, because she can race quite keenly with the choke out when she is fresh.
As they went past the stands the pace steadied and that just lit her up a bit, so she ended up racing with the choke out anyway. She also got stopped in her run turning in, which if anything probably gave her the chance to take a breath.
Despite that, she came home very strongly and was definitely the horse to take out of the race in a close 4th just missing out on BLACK TYPE. She’ll go hurdling now and although she missed out on black type yesterday at Cheltenham, she’s absolutely one who’ll be picking it up in the future.
We still had a great day, Cheltenham always look after placed connections. You get a lovely glass of champagne, which is a great touch and everyone really enjoyed themselves.
ROCK SENSATION and her Owners
Next week…
Today myself and Noel are heading to Cheltenham, where HELNWEIN will contest the 100K Greatwood Hurdle — a fantastic race to be involved in.
Later this week, on Tuesday we’re looking forward to TAHMURAS going to the Coral Gold Cup Gallop Morning at Newbury for a gallop, where lots of stars that will be heading to Newbury at the end of the month will be galloping.
We also could have runners at Lingfield, GIANTSGRAVE and SKI LODGE are both potential starters.
On Wednesday, KAMSINAS is a possible runner at Hexham.
Thursday looks set to be a very busy day, with up to four potential runners:
- BARON NOIR and STAR WALKING, who may both line up at Warwick, along with NO FLIES ON HER, heading out for her second run.
- DELTA BLUES BELLE, who is also a possible runner at Wincanton.
On Friday, DOUBLE THE DANCE may make his debut at Ascot, and BARON NOIR will head to Chepstow if he doesn’t run at Warwick.
It’s shaping up to be an exciting week for the whole team and we’re looking forward to seeing how our runners perform!
Catching up with some of our Owners' at Cheltenham!
Diary Dates
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