Lucie on the track!

Kurt reports :
At the end of the trials, Murray brought baby Lucie out on to the track. Amazing! Lucie, who was figuratively sucking a sugary hoof a few weeks back, now with a work-cart behind her, trotting neatly (give or take the occasional ooooh! at the sight of a vehicle or a flowering irrigation system or … a corner) round the Motukarara grass track…
Heavens! The ‘family’ are up and going!
Maybe she will be one of the first Love You babes to race in New Zealand.

Thanks for 2009 Teresa and Marion - and all the best for 2010

Our Love Yous come and go

'Dada' top and Lucie below : I keep up to date with them via Kurt's blog - here's the latest news (ah it's summer!)

Dutchess qualifies at Addinton

Km rate of 1.22.3 over 2600m - which was what Snowball did while pulling badly and on one rein on a windy day at Chateaubriant in finishing 7th. Twilight earlier had indicated she prefers to gallop when with other horses (as opposed to trotting very well in warm-ups), which is not very useful for a racehorse!

Snowball and Twilight

Snowball just beaten for third at Cordemais; would have won if could have been driven out instead of being on one rein says MH. Right-handed now (Chateaubriant 23rd)

Twilight gets the new spreader 15 minutes before the race at Graignes; it did its job but she didn't. Also right-handed now (Chateaubriant 23rd)

SIERRA second at Reims

Showing she simply had an off day at Enghien.

Down Under Dutchess

Our correspondent John McD reports!

Just to let you know Dutchess went to the workouts at Motukarara on Saturday and while she ran second in a two horse heat went much better than her finishing position would indicate. Murray has her looking terrific, and warmed her up with 6 or 7 pacers in the previous heat - she was very relaxed and quite at home on the track, and never turned a hair !! In her heat she trotted all the way in the trail, and while she did not pass the horse in front Murray had a non removable hood with earplugs on her which made her so relaxed. He was absolutely delighted with her, and said not to worry about her lack of speed over the final stages, it is merely hidden short term !!. The plan is another two or three runs at the workouts and then the qualifying trials in a month or so - so at this stage she is doing absolutely everything right and her attitude is really good, so lets hope she continues to improve as I am confident she will. She certainly looks the part.

Twilight qualifies nicely at Caen 1.19.2 (2.7.5 mr)

She is wonderfully calm in all situations ( rather like uncle Orlando) and was smartly away (second from right), sat outside the leader until the 1000m and then went clear to win easily. The next five also met the 1.22.0 criterion, so it wasn't a bad heat. Debuts at Caen in a 2200m autostart on Saturday, drawn 10.

SIERRA third at 90/1

Readers of the blog would have ignored her Vincennes run on Tuesday night when she never got clear and the plugs and blinds were never pulled. But there are not many of them (!) so she was sent out at the ridiculous odds of 90/1 (given her Mauquenchy third) and finished a progressive third (13.70 for a place). She was less happy right-handed after racing twice left-handed and you will see from the video that she was on one rein in the straight and couldn't be driven out, so could have been even closer. Very good news is that she has learned to drop the bit and stop pulling (it seems), so we look forward to a 2150m autostart at Enghien on 8th october.

Sierra at Mauquenchy