Thursday December 20th - Thorndale Farm in Focus (Issue 9)

Dear All,

It has been a while since I sent out a newsletter so I can only apologise for being a little on the slack side. The start of the season has been slow on the runner front, only because we have so many young horses in the yard this time compared to normal. As you know we completely restocked during the summer mostly with young horses as we are very much looking to the future; the down side is that they do take time. The good news is that they look a most encouraging crop of youngsters and judging by the promise shown by the few that we have run we should have a great deal to look forward to.

The festive season is well and truly with us and we will be trying to go racing, weather permitting, most days of the Christmas and New Year period. We intend to have runners at Towcester and Huntingdon on Boxing Day; so if you are brave enough or keen enough to leave home for the afternoon we would love to see you.

Just to finish may I wish you all a hugely Happy Christmas and may 2008 prove to be Very Prosperous for all. I just hope the forecasted credit crunch is something thought up by a clerk of the course not a banker!

Open Day


We had a hugely successful and enjoyable Open Day; over 200 owners and friends came to see the horses parade and devour a delicious hog roast.  All the horses looked well and a huge thanks to all my staff for working so hard and producing the horses and yard in spotless condition. We sold a couple of horses and the atmosphere was one of huge enthusiasm for the season ahead.  If you would like a copy of our brochure from our Open day please let me know and we will send you one.

Good Old Days

There is a moment in everybody's life, as a racehorse owner, when the excitement of your first winner finally arrives.  Good Old Days gave Keith Ellis his first taste of the winners enclosure; it was brilliant not only was Keith there, but Ludlow is his favourite course, and he backed his horse!

Jason Maguire gave Good Old Days a brilliant ride and managed to hold him up until the last and then ran on well to win by two and a half lengths.

 

 


Happy Days!

 

Good Old Days Winning at Ludlow

New Arrivals!

We have recently had three new horses arrive in the yard; two are imports from France. The first is Sarde  a 3 year old, owned by Bill Ives, who came to us from G Macaire's having won a hurdle race. His first run for us was at Sandown where he finished a very promising third against older horses.

The second horse is Ptibaby who is owned by Mark Sherwood and his partnership, Quicksilver Racing. Ptibaby was second in a 2 mile chase in France and is yet to run for us.

The third is an unnamed 4 year old by Tel Quel who was bought at the recent Cheltenham Breeze-up Sales by The Hon Mrs E Wills.  He has only been with us a week but looks like a smashing sort.

Lets hope they all live up to the High Expectations!

I do hope you have enjoyed catching up on our news; don't forget we would love to have you involved in the yard if you are not already; we are just a phone call away.

All the best

                                                                                       

A couple of ideas for Christmas Presents!

There are still shares available in Double Mead who finished a very promising 4th in her first run for us at Towcester last month.

Double Mead

 

The Unnamed four years old Chesnut Gelding by Alfora is progressing nicely and will be ready to run in bumpers in the spring.

£25,000 + VAT to stay in the yard.

Alflora Gelding

Trivia - For a bit of time-wasting! Why not print this word search off and have a go?

Or try and hit the penguin!

Pulling out on frozen grass fieldsCold wastes of Gloucestershire