Scealai Aonair at Ayr and Forrardon Xmoor at Downpatrick
The word from Alexander McNeillie from the Scottish contingent of the club, was that they'd had plenty of rain over there recently which would suit Scealai Aonair who has been our only mud lark so far this year. She was back on the flat over in Ayr in a 1m 2f race, a distance she has won at before. The going was soft, heavy in places and the word from the yard was that she had a chance of being placed. The Sporting Life gave her less of a chance thinking that employing 5lb claimer Andrew Breslin to bring her down to bottom weight was proof that action had to be taken to get her in the reckoning. On the flip side, the Gordon Elliott factor had to be taken into consideration and "Insights" was signalling him as a "Hot Trainer".
She came out of the stalls with the rest of them but she was relegated to second last within a couple of strides and from then on she was struggling to keep up with them. She briefly looked like she might make her way through the field to catch them but it never materialised and she finished seventh about 5 lengths behind the winner. In fairness, she ran on well at the end but the feeling was that the jockey had left her with too much to do. I suppose this is the risk with using a conditional jockey to reduce the weight over an experienced jockey. Hopefully we see Scealai Aonair over hurdles during the winter as she'll have all the heavy ground she can handle.
The last time I was at the races I was celebrating my first live club victory. This time I went home from Downpatrick thinking Forrardon Xmoor had just pulled up as a lot of horses do but I was shocked to learn that he'd suffered a fatal injury and had to be put down. I'd never been to Downpatrick racecourse before even though it's less than an hour from where I live. It's a quirky little course that reminded me of a rollercoaster with it's sharp climbs and falls either side of the finish line. In the parade ring beforehand, Gordon spoke about Scealai Aonair NOT being sent over hurdles this winter which was a surprise to me as she loves the heavy ground. She will continue on the flat. I was also surprised that Smiling Eliza will keep going until the ground gets too heavy. Davy Russell was onboard Forrardon Xmoor in the last race of the season at Downpatrick. Gordon and Davy picked up the Best Trainer and Jockey awards during the afternoon and they had one winner together to rubber stamp it. We were hoping they could crown it for us with our boy in this 2m 7f chase but in truth we didn't have high hopes as the talk was he needed heavy ground and although the latest storm had brought a lot of rain the going was only soft. He was travelling well when he went past the stand the first time but when he went down the hill to the next and back up again, I couldn't believe it looked like he was being pulled up so soon after the start and then it was confirmed by the announcer. I watched to see if Davy was going to walk back up past us then the next thing was I saw the Horse Ambulance go down towards them and the grey was loaded into the back. He was still upright when they went past me in the car park but I did hear a loud whinny come from him. We were informed later that he had severed a tendon and had to be put down so what I thought was a whinny was more likely a roar of pain. Poor big fella.
Another very sad end to a club horse and it hammers home the wide range of emotions you get in horse racing from one meeting to the next. Condolences to all those who looked after Forrardon Xmoor. His best form was in point to points and he was placed once under rules.
She came out of the stalls with the rest of them but she was relegated to second last within a couple of strides and from then on she was struggling to keep up with them. She briefly looked like she might make her way through the field to catch them but it never materialised and she finished seventh about 5 lengths behind the winner. In fairness, she ran on well at the end but the feeling was that the jockey had left her with too much to do. I suppose this is the risk with using a conditional jockey to reduce the weight over an experienced jockey. Hopefully we see Scealai Aonair over hurdles during the winter as she'll have all the heavy ground she can handle.
The last time I was at the races I was celebrating my first live club victory. This time I went home from Downpatrick thinking Forrardon Xmoor had just pulled up as a lot of horses do but I was shocked to learn that he'd suffered a fatal injury and had to be put down. I'd never been to Downpatrick racecourse before even though it's less than an hour from where I live. It's a quirky little course that reminded me of a rollercoaster with it's sharp climbs and falls either side of the finish line. In the parade ring beforehand, Gordon spoke about Scealai Aonair NOT being sent over hurdles this winter which was a surprise to me as she loves the heavy ground. She will continue on the flat. I was also surprised that Smiling Eliza will keep going until the ground gets too heavy. Davy Russell was onboard Forrardon Xmoor in the last race of the season at Downpatrick. Gordon and Davy picked up the Best Trainer and Jockey awards during the afternoon and they had one winner together to rubber stamp it. We were hoping they could crown it for us with our boy in this 2m 7f chase but in truth we didn't have high hopes as the talk was he needed heavy ground and although the latest storm had brought a lot of rain the going was only soft. He was travelling well when he went past the stand the first time but when he went down the hill to the next and back up again, I couldn't believe it looked like he was being pulled up so soon after the start and then it was confirmed by the announcer. I watched to see if Davy was going to walk back up past us then the next thing was I saw the Horse Ambulance go down towards them and the grey was loaded into the back. He was still upright when they went past me in the car park but I did hear a loud whinny come from him. We were informed later that he had severed a tendon and had to be put down so what I thought was a whinny was more likely a roar of pain. Poor big fella.
Another very sad end to a club horse and it hammers home the wide range of emotions you get in horse racing from one meeting to the next. Condolences to all those who looked after Forrardon Xmoor. His best form was in point to points and he was placed once under rules.
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