Love You Mums

Here's looking at you Kurt... Gwen (front) and la Grande Duchesse (rear) have returned to Gerolstein to concentrate (we hope) on delivering the stuff of which dreams are made of towards the end of 2008!

Endurance and Perseverance

Who's this then? Not a thoroughbred galloper (of course), but an Anglo-Arab endurance horse called Royal Rebellion, who has just one on his first outing in Al Wathba in the Emirates. And why on this blog? Because he was 'made' by our good friends Nicky Freud and Richard Allen, met through other good friends in Montourtier (Philippe Morin and Michel Desnier) who are also keen endurance riding practioners. Nicky and Richard have a property near Gevres (30 minutes away) with exceptionally good raspberries and home made bread among other attractions. I will leave you to follow the wikipedia link to find out more about endurance riding and give you the beginning and end of the item on endurance.net in which they tell of the path to the top of 'Mr McHenry' and 'blow a trumpet for all those who have a horse not 'bred in the bone' for endurance but have persevered with a horse who they believed in'
Then: "four years ago we bought a four year old Anglo Arab unseen (apart from some photos) from an internet horse- selling site for 1500 pounds delivered. His registered name is Royal Rebellion but we were going through a Magic Roundabout phase at the time and called him Mr McHenry.
Now: "Fast forward to his first ride for the new owners, a 3* with 92 other horses. At 8, he was one of the youngest, and being ridden by the trainer's brother. We were following the ride from freezing France on the website and cheering to the cats as ... the nervous horse from Wales without a drop of endurance blood in his veinscrossed the line over 2 minutes ahead of anyone else and pulsed at 58."
As a result of this success Nicky says he would cost £250k to buy back today. But the only money in developing, training and racing endurance is through making horses successful and therefore attractive the sheiks.. so congratulations on 4 years of hard work and perseverance and here's to the next Mr McHenry among the residents at Les Mulocheres.

A good R start

Resico gave Marion his first 2yo winner from his first 2yo runner. He is by Esotico Star out of Jasmine du Fanil, a daughter of Belga. Won impressively and looks likely to repeat quickly.
Tim had his first sight of Quitus in a race at Vincennes but a 'racing incident' which saw him nearly fall put paid to his chances on this occasion. Querido had run eighth in the Criterium des Trois Ans (the French Trotting Derby) a week earlier, where the top Love You filly Qualita Bourbon was narrowly beaten by Quaro after repelling a succession of earlier challenges.

Good news, very bad news

Both Kurt's mares (Gwen and la grande Duchesse) have been pronounced in foal to Love You by the frozen route, so we can look forward at this time next year (and beyond) to see how our joint bet on this new trotteur francais-standardbred cross will turn out. (Since Love You's paternal grand-dam is by Super Bowl and his maternal grand-dam by Speedy Somolli one might be tempted to say he already represents this cross... but I will resist the temptation!)
But sadly news has just come from Australia that the VERY expensive galloping foal from the excellent Rosmarino that he was a partner in had been found dead in its box. Mind-numbing. And so soon after John McDermott lost his valuable Christian Cullen colt... in its box.

Great race videos

Set includes Ourasi winning Prix d'Amerique in 1987 and 1988, the famous March of Dimes in the US in 1988, Mack Lobell winning the Elitlopp in 1988. Click on menu at bottom right to select race, after starting March of Dimes video.

Currier and Ives Slideshow

From 1834 to 1907 the lithography shop of "Currier & Ives" produced over 1 million prints ( more than 7500 different titles), recording the history of mid to late 19th century America in picture. The thrust of a forthcoming PBS documentary is that Currier & Ives launched the beginning of mass media as we know it today. In a picture-less society, the firm became one of America’s greatest business success stories by tapping America's thirst to see things for themselves. While many of the prints are highly romanticised versions of American life and some are overtly racist, Currier and Ives provided trotting enthusiasts with a wonderful collection of portraits of the great horses and events of the opening decades of the sport.

Stable Music

Courtesy of Deezer...French! You can turn the sound off by clicking on the || symbol. The same goes for the slide shows ... clicking on the || symbol will pause the show at the selected pic. (And clicking on any pic will take you back to the original image in the web album, from where you can download it if you wish) Musical suggestions welcomed... they will be moderated however, musn't scare the horses...

Homeward bound

The last few days in Sydney went very fast. Finally caught up with old mate Robert Marshall (and Gina), who have been forced to develop new Friday night habits as a result of the shutting down of Harold Park because of equine flu. Robert is on the NSW Harness Racing Regulatory Authority . It looks as if Harold Park will soon become part of Sydney University (is this progress I ask?), with a replacement 1400 meter track (that's progress) being built out at Campbelltown in the Western Suburbs. It will be much easier to reach for most trainers and likely to attract a better crowd. Possibly. [You wanted to know why it is called Harold Park? After Childe Harold (USA) an 1871 grandson of Hambletonian imported to Australia, to whom many good horses (both gaits) can be traced, especially via his son Rothschild. So not because Lord Byron was an early pilgrim.]

Heard that Laura had been entrusted to take the Cowan's promising 3yo filly Torias Secret* up to Auckland, where she is aimed at a $NZ125,000 race on New Year's Eve. So she gets to see the 'big smoke' in Kiwi land. Seems she will be staying on in Leeston to help prepare Peter and Vicky's yearlings for the February Sale. [*Vicky=Victoria, but Victoria's Secret is a big commercial name in glamour lingerie, so not available.]

Was able to check out Jack's latest run at Geraldine on the HRNZ video in the lounge at Hong Kong airport... well back on inside most of way and never likely to get into the finish from there... will wait to hear what the connections have to say.

And no, I'm not up one of those up there doing the Bridge Climb... not at $AU200 or more!

Google Earth

I haven't figured out how to make a connection yet but if you have Google Earth the Latitude of the marina is 33°48'20.72"S and the longitude 151°14'41.77"E. Zoom right in and you will see that Hakuna Matata is out (joke!) You insist on evidence that I was actually there?

A super Sunday

Can you imagine cruising gently (and not so gently) around Sydney Harbour on a perfect summer's day at 28 degrees in your own boat? Thanks to Lyndal Trevena and partner Steve Ferris I don't have to imagine it any more. Lyndal is a colleague who is running one of the Annalisa-based projects in the School of Public Health and Steve buys, sell, repairs and restores planes, engine and all their other parts... but only up to 737s he confided.They collected me at Manly Wharf and picked up Hakuna Matata (Swahili for 'no worries') at the nearby marina and we motored up Middle Harbour (occasionally at 25 knots, just to check things out), anchoring for lunch in Bantry Bay... and for a spot of fishing as it is known... hmmm, I did eventually manage a couple of twenty meter casts and had 3 prawns taken but no fish. Ah well, hakuna matata. Then back down and across the Heads and up the Harbour (weaving through the sailing fleets and ferries), past the Opera House and under the Bridge... seeing where Russell Crowe lives... into Darling Harbour... and then back to base. All pretty magical and takes ones mind off almost everything... almost. Merci beaucoup Lyndal and Steve.

Saturday night fever

Invited to a Labour party on Election night at Reg(ina) Graycar's - a friend of Jane, a friend of Pat and Sandy... so it goes in oz - I was fascinated how long it took everyone to believe they were actually going to win (after 11 years out) and that the eminently depisable Howard was for the butcher (as MP as well as PM). The bookies (the only poll worth looking at) had the ALP 'home and hosed' and from the first returns it was obvious to all but the faint-hearted that it was going to be a landslide (or Ruddslide as it became known here)... and that (racing metaphors always come to mind on this blog) 'you could put away your glasses' (binoculars). Eventually much bubbly was consumed with unalloyed joy, with the consequence that I was asked to drive since my licence was perceived to be less valuable or maybe less at risk. Strange car, strange city, but I done well (or was that just the bubbly?). Home from the party in time (1 am here) to turn on the Slingbox and watch Prince Djo running at Lyon. Off 25m he never really got into the race, was forced wide round the final turn and finished 8th. But next day (not on TV) I see that the other Prince (des Baux) ran a nice third at Amiens.

Earth from Above

A mizzly Election Saturday led me back to the wonderful Earth from Above exhibition, a set of which is on display in the open air at Darling Harbour 200m from my apartment. It's available on line but the full size (2mX1.5m I guess) have much more impact. And of course there is, as always, a horse connection (the pic is of Maisons-Laffitte hippodrome.) Not a coincidence in this case because photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand has done another series on Horses, illustrating all the various breeds of the world (though I couldn't find a standardbred!).The trotteur francais in the pic is Kahela de Luc, âgée de 5 ans, drivée par Sylvain Devulder. Pistes du centre d'entraînement de Grosbois, environs de Paris, France.

Disgusted...

Having diligently watched the trots, gallops and dogs from all over Australia on Trackside during my stay in NZ, I ventured into the health hazard that is the Haymarket TAB in George Street, Sydney confident that I would be able to see the Dominion Handicap live from Addington. (It's the top race of the year for trotters in NZ.) But no, to my utter disgust no sign of Addington on any screen.. plenty of pacing from all corners of OZ plus greyhounds. Where's the reciprocity? Whose negotiating the Trackside contracts? (I see there was a Southland galloping meeting imported late morning when they were short of fodder, but nothing later.) RaceTAB NSW website is interesting... versions in English, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese.) So I came home and watched it on HRNZ website, awarded the best HR site in the world at the recent Conference. Mountbatten, a 5yo son of Earl won in a km rate of 1.17.4 (3200m standing start).

Sculpture by the Sea

A wonderful collection of 106 sculptures (art? rubbish?) strung out along the coastal walk between Bondi and Tamarama. http://www.sculpturebythesea.com/html/bottom.php Drawn number 1 was Sasha Reid's 'making our own way'... His accompanying statement reads "Making our own way, stay put, or hope that around the corner the answer will reveal itself."... Which clarifies things a lot and makes $25,000 seem quite reasonable. (No red dot yet.). Probably not the solution to the equine flu problem. (Thanks to Paul Lancaster for the pic and company on the walk. The following slideshow contains all his 94 pics but I haven't got his permission yet and am just trying out the new facility to do this sort of thing. (He has now said he is happy to have them on here and will be learning about Picasa Web Albums sometime!)

Laura in Winners' Circle

Trotupastorm (12)redeemed himself today, turning in a big run after breaking and losing lots of ground on the first turn (grit in the face? needs a French mask?) but zooming round the field to lead for the rest of the trip. Held on by the narrowest of margins to give Laura her first taste of victory in New Zealand.Jack (7, seventh) ran well but wasn't suited by the way the race turned into a sprint home over the last 400.

Sydney sans

The equine flu has meant the indefinite end of harness racing (all pacing) at Harold Park Raceway, with unforeseen consequences. One being the return of the big crowds of old to watch... CAMEL RACING. http://www.haroldpark.com.au/paceway/camelresults.html Will I be tempted?... watch this space. Another consequence is that culture called in the form of the Sidney Nolan retrospective (accompanying Pat and Sandy Troy). Here I was moved to reinterpret (as one is allowed to do of course) a familiar painting as representing an early form of monte racing on a very dry and wide track. N Kelly is carrying a lot of overweight and his style is outdated but his horse is still showing the rest a clean pair of heels. Next: Sculpture by the Sea!

Querido.. from Sydney

Sadly he galloped soon after the start (Jos Verbeeck driving for first time because JMB opted for Quaro), but it was still magic to be able to watch the race live on my laptop in Sydney - courtesy of my Slingbox which is sitting in London connected to my TV and broadband router.I can even change channels from afar, though that will not be happening! Only limitation is that one can't record or save the streaming image, hence the pic taken by camera. http://www.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox

Jack's super run

Peter and Jack combined to run a thrilling third, a neck from the winner in a four horse finish (second from bottom in official photo finish, second from top in second pic, as we saw the finish), after taking a bit of a knock on the home turn. So Jack goes through to the final on Show Day (Friday 16th). Peter said before the race that whatever he did tonight he would be better next time out so fingers are crossed for a decent draw. (Laura was able to meet up again with Wendy Williams of Gerolstein in the stables but Roman Eagle found it difficult tonight.)
To see the video of the race go to http://www.hrnz.co.nz/ click on Race Results>NZ Metropolitan T.C. 09/11/2007>race 10>broadband... quality will depend on where you are

Laura goes ambling

Laura gritted her teeth and worked a pacer (ambleur) for the first time today.... and came out of the experience unscathed. (Niburu, a 6yo bay mare had the honour.) She had in fact moved straight from Kurt's (merci beaucoup mon ami) to Peter and Vicky Cowan's at Doyleston. (Christine McD is paying the price for Northern Hemisphere frivolities I think!) She has clearly settled into the routines immediately and later in the morning Peter was amazed to find her replacing a shoe lost during work. He warned Vicky that she would be confined to kitchen duties at this rate. (A bit extreme I thought, though her muffins ARE exceptionally good.) Vicky worked Trotupastorm a treat and he is fancied to follow up on Cup Day. Jack Hinton is in the last tomorrow night, drawn 7, so will be lucky to get a good 'possy'. The first four in each of three heats qualify for the final a week later. Laura had her first race meeting at Addington on Tuesday night, where there were two (trotting) heats of the World Drivers Championship. Christophe Martens still leads the series from Kiwi Colin de Fillipi, but displayed a bit of 'race rage' when his trotter broke in the second. The pressure may be telling! Like 99% of the rest of the world who see it Laura can't believe that horses are expected to start from a complete stand after circling for several minutes in a 10 meter box (the handicaps are at 10 metre intervals here). Incroyable!

Queen of Gerolstein

Kurt's pride and joy is Elena de Gerolstein, a 3yo Falcon Seelster filly who is still growing and is going to be a very big lady!

Laura sets NZ on fire

On Guy Fawkes Day of course

A tree for Hilary

Hil would have been 66 today so Kurt, Laura and I planted a little elm in the middle of the rose bed at Gerolstein. See also kurt's blog

Day 1 Down Under for Mlle Hue

It's a long way to... Motukarara! But that is where Laura, John and Christine and myself were reunited on Saturday. Laura got off the plane after 27 hours flying and was told Fred's horse JACK HINTON was running in an Amateur Drivers heat at the trials at Motukarara, about 30 minutes from Christchurch, in 3 hours time... driven by leading amateur J McDermott. Galloping 60 meters behind the gate as it accelerated there were some uncomfortable moments for the waiting fans, but John got him back to a pace, caught them by the dispatch and worked his way up to sit outside the leader at the 1000, confidently pushed on and JACK held on resolutely in the straight to win. Congratulations all round and 600 NZ dollars of petrol vouchers to the winner (it's 1.70 a litre here and there are about 2 NZ dollars to the euro); split between the three owners (Fred, John and John's brother Maurice). In the picture (click to enlarge) trainer Peter Cowan and wife Vicky are tending to Jack's head under Laura's supervision, while Christine tends to John's. Fred looks on, wondering why he got into this business I suspect.. but also obviously enjoying it, with wife Pat, given what Jack is doing as their first horse. JACK should run at Addington next Friday night. We'll all be there.
Laura just missed the Cowan's good 4yo trotter Trotupastorm winning well at Addington on Fred's birthday (the 2nd)which we celebrated at where you can guess.
Late afternoon we moved up to Gerolstein with Kurt and have been chilling out (or at least one of us has) and been to the supermarket to replenenish depleted stocks.

Busy Days!

A very busy few days started with picking up John and Christine McDermott from Evreux station on my way to Marion's after beaucoup de papier francaise (paperwork ) concerning houses, cars, etc in Mayenne. J and C had come for the rugby and managed to see the All Blacks (and good friend Ritchie McCaw) only once, but had enjoyed the later stages of their tour despite this. We enjoyed marvellous hospitality from Marion and Teresa (and Laura) and spend Monday looking round the establishment and horses. The bad news last week was that the beautiful blonde ROSA failed the cut (no 'breath'), so is no more. And SNOWBALL will shortly lose his maculinity. But the good news is that SIERRA has been in the cart and Bernard and Marion like her VERY MUCH. I saw her jogging and she indeed seems to have it all in both mind and body - which is very rare! As usual I confused my foals and mares in the field (almost impossible to do everyone agrees) but both TINA and TWILIGHT are developing well, the latter particularly in my considered (but not considerable) opinion. They are about to be weaned any day.
On Tuesday all 6 of us hopped into the van to accompany Quitus to St Galmier, a mere 6 hours drive away in the Auvergne (mostly at 140kph).The natives were surprised to see the Irish flag and shamrock circling the track (see pic) and without a breaker in front of him on the final turn it might have been the focus in the winner's photo. But he did an excellent race for second and there's more to come Tim!
Wednesday we took the short 2 hour trip to Enghien to see Prince Djo, with high hopes. However 2 false starts effectively did for his chances... he is a 'difficult horse' in any language. Then dropped J and C off for their last few days in Paris before returning to chez McDermott (near) Christchurch. They will be hosting Laura during part of her coming visit and so it was great that they were able to get to know each other so well.
Now back in London to pack for NZ and Sydney. So my next racing will be at Addington on 6 November, where I first went 60 years ago (gulp!)

Querido triumphs

Hot favourite in a category race, he won very easily. The two or three horses he has been behind in the semi-classiques were absent but they will find him much more difficult to beat next time.

Just a reminder

... that there are important people in my life, as well as horses.
Like son Craig, partner Sheila and my 3 and a half year old twin grandaughters Mia (centre) and Alice.


As is so familiar in racing PORTO developed a minor muscle problem at the beginning of the week of his targeted race so no action today. He should be back in 3-4 weeks.

Querido ran a very good race in the Group 1 Prix d'Etoile last weekend, rating 1.13 (1.57.5) for the 2150m (walk-in start) in finishing fourth. This is one of the 4 'pursuit' classics in which the 3yos get 50m start from the 4 and 5yos. (Orlando ran in the monte equivalent 2 years ago, finishing fifth.) 50m is now a totally unrealistic handicap over 2150 m on the new Vincennes piste and with the new generation of 3yos. Only Olimede took on the youngsters this time and mile-rated 1.54.7 for fifth!.

SNOWBALL is rolling

A trip to Breteuil to celebrate Clara's second birthday in grand style (merci beaucoup Teresa!!) provided the opportunity to see MOONLIGHT's second foal (by Eclat de la Crau) for the first time in a year. Like ROSKO he's a big boy, even though just under 18 months old. He was in the cart for just the third time (great grandad Bernard in charge) and still being harnessed up with the help of the trailer used for the introductory sessions. Who knows what he will be... but his owner is proud of the first action photo (note all feet off ground!)
Of course we had to go racing... three hours to Laon near Reims, where Perle (like POLINA by Jasmine de Flore) ran a super race to finish second off 25m, driven perfectly by the promising David Marion Hue, father of the fore-mentioned Clara. David seems to be the only one to be able to get Perle to perform, so well done all round to him.
We really wanted PORTO to race at Laval on Tuesday to get him race-fit for the 20th, but he was eliminated, so expectations will need to be lowered. At Laval Prince Djo ran a very big race for third off 25m after very little work and has tremendous potential - if his head can be sorted.

Querido, Qualita and Offshore

Querido ran an excellent race in his last Group 2 before the Group 1 Prix d'Etoile on the 15th, without troubling the ones ahead of him. Rating 1.14.2 for the 2700 m (1.59.2 mile rate)
"Rapidement en bon rang en épaisseur, ce pensionnaire de Marion Hue s'est retrouvé à la pointe du combat dans la montée, se montrant courageux jusqu'au bout sans pouvoir rivaliser dans les deux cents derniers mètres avec les poulains ayant composé le jumelé gagnant."
Quatre Juillet was absent today, but Qualita Bourbon easily won the fillies equivalent for Love You.
Offshore Dream may not be favourite for the 27 January 2008 after being beaten by Ozio Royal (by Cezio Jocelyn, by Armbro Goal) in the Criterium des 5 Ans, rating 1.13.8 for 3000m. Occitane was a very impressive 4th but is also not quoted yet [The unibet site is at https://www.unibet.com/punter/index.jsp]

N.B. The Os will be 6 on January 1 and the Ps will be 5.

PRIX D'AMERIQUE ODDS

No, not offered by the PMU of course which really should be following the NZ TAB fixed odds example, rather than hoping the bookies will be beaten in Brussels. Anyway here are those offered by Unibet at the moment.

PORTO's best time

PORTO needs regular racing so he went in at the deep end today (Monday 27th) with gains of 31,000 in a race open to horses that had won up to 75,000. Though only 9th and showing he needed a race in the last 100m he ran the fastest he has ever done with a kilometer rate of 1.15.3 - mile rate of 2.01.2 - over 2700m (tape start). There is a good race for him on the 20th. As a matter of interest Pride of Petite holds the New Zealand record for 2700 meters from a standing start at a km rate of 1.15.8. Fraggle Rock holds the mobile start record at a rate of ... 1.15.3! Of course the grand piste at Vincennes is 2000m round and it's a very fast track, but it also has a testing descent and rise.

Love You

As readers of Kurt's blog will know I convinced him frozen semen from top stallion Love You at under 4,000 euros, compared with his French fee of 15,000, is a real bargain and so Gwen and Duchess will be off for this unexciting experience shortly. But it was only fair that I take 50% of the bet, so that's the deal. It looked good today when his progeny won the two 3yo semi-classiques at Vincennes ,Qualita Bourbon the fillies and Quatre Juillet the colts, both Jean-Pierre Dubois naturally . However the latter would not have won if the runner-up had been able to get clear in the straight. Who was it ? None other than Querido des Baux, driven by Jean-Michel Bazire. He's clearly going to be a real threat at the top! Here are the Paris Turf reports.

un parcours sans incident svp

PORTO was lucky insofar as he was the eighth most monied horse in the race and was therefore on the gate (as opposed to second line). Even more lucky he drew 5, But he wasn't able to leave quite fast enough to avoid being three wide round the first bend and Marion had to use him to get to the front. Not keen to stay there, he was overtaken, but by a 'bad' horse and so got progressively shuffled back on the inside down the back. Round the final turn and into the straight he was blocked and unable to get out for about 200 metres. Then as usual he finished very well - fifth, promoted to fourth after a disqualification ahead of him. So he continues to race super and all we need for is a race where he can make his sustained 700 metre finish from near the front...un parcours sans incident s'il vous plait

PORTO 's excellent run

Fifth doesn't seem excellent but it was a super run after a start handicapped by a hooked sulky and a not ideal journey round the last bend. This time Marion simply left him to do his bestin the long Enghien straight and he finished best of all down the outside. Very pleasing... especially in 37 degrees!

Homage in Paris-Turf

Finally back to a scanner with hard copy of the Paris-Turf on July 8 where Marion dedicated the victory of Querido to Hilary and me. Merci bien Marion!
(Interesting mistake in the caption!)

The young ones

The two new filly foals are looking well, as you can see. Both are by Ideal de l'Iton and look a lot like him. TINA is of course a full sister to Orlando!
TWILIGHT (out of Moonlight) is big and sturdy. But the most impressive at the moment is the yearling SIERRA, Festina's filly by Lutin Malin. (Originally intended to be SKY but that didn't happen for some reason.) SNOWBALL (Moonlight's colt by Eclat de la Crau) was out of reach on this visit.) The two year olds ROSKO and ROSA are starting to work towards qualification by the end of the year. So lots to look forward to... but in a different world from a few weeks ago.

re-entry to France

Before coming on down to Metairie for the first time since we left on June 28, which I was not looking forward to, I was able to spend 4 days with wonderfully supportive and hospitable Marion and Teresa ... and the horses. POLINA had been fourth at Graignes on July 21(Perle was second in the same race.)
She was going to race again at Bacqueville-en-Caux, near Dieppe, on Sunday. Before that PORTO was to race at Les Sables d'Olonne (4-5 hours drive each way) on Friday. He had drawn the outside on the gate (autostart) but Marion got him into the 1-1 round the first bend. Then the trailer galloped and the horse outside the leader moved in, leaving PORTO 'facing the breeze' for the rest of the journey (2650m). In the straight Marion wisely settled for fourth rather than risk the break which had happened the last two times.
Bacqueville-en Caux (possibly the worst track in France anyway according to a usually reliable source) turned out to be Bogville-en-Caux. POLINA was off 25m and a slip on the first bend meant the loss of another 25, and that was the difference between second and fifth, which was where she ended up. Still she ran another good race and her five starts since Evreux have produced 5 4 5 6 6. (Prince was fourth in his race.)
Despite the state of the track it was a fun day with the village choir performing church music as the entertainment and almost every van having to be pulled out of the mud by a tractor when attempting to leave (see pic above)