Brancepeth Open Day

I’ve just this minute come back from no lesser place than Brancepeth Manor Farm, which today saw the staging of an Open Day on behalf of Carrie Humble’s admirable Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre. You won’t have seen any mention of this on Brancepethfan before, and with good reason – I only found out about the thing when channel-hopping yesterday, and just caught an announcement during the only 60 seconds or so of Channel 4 Racing I watched! Never mind, a crowd of around 300 of us did turn up, and enjoyed the dry, sunny weather, if not the accompanying strong wind which never seems too far away in this exposed part of Co. Durham.

As usual, Richard Guest and his team proved themselves to be most congenial and accommodating hosts, with field upon field of happy, healthy horses overlooking proceedings and bearing testimony to his sympathetic, close-to-nature handling of them. It was good to see the likes of ONE DAY and LORD DUNDEE, for so long out with injury, on the list provided of horses out in the fields and seemingly back on their way to full fitness ahead of new campaigns in the near future.

A resume of the Open Day’s most significant events follows;


RICHARD GUEST RACING CLUB

Briefly operational last autumn, this has been relaunched primarily as a fundraising outlet for the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre. An initial five horses – FIENNES, MERSEY MIRAGE, REEDSMAN, VALERUN and WHY THE LONG FACE (the last-named therefore released from the ownership of Richard Guest’s former chauffeur Mike Rogers) – will represent the Club on the racecourse, wearing the same silks the Club used before, which also double up as those of Guest as an owner-trainer.

Any winnings earned at the end of each year in excess of the horses’ training costs will be passed onto the TRC. Club members won’t get any prizemoney themselves, but a number of free owners’ passes will be made available for each meeting at which a Club horse runs, allocated to members by means of a draw as soon as overnight declarations are made. The first runner for the Club will be REEDSMAN, who impressed sufficiently in the gallops exercise this morning.


HORSES FOR SALE

Although Club animals for the time being, all five horses listed above except for Reedsman are also regarded as available for sale at present, along with the former Australian pair DURBA and GUERILLA (neither of whom attracted a sale when advertised on http://bloodstock.tv , but are probably better acclimatised animals now than then anyway); the former Penny Overy-owned MOSCOW LEADER, who is fighting fit after recovering from an injury sustained at Market Rasen last autumn; the former Bob Johnson-trained UPSWING, who will be partnered by Kenny Johnson irrespective of whoever ends up owning him (an eminently sensible move); and two of the recent purchases from the Doncaster Sales, JODANTE and SHANNON’S PRIDE, who are both slated to run in handicap chases this season.

Some of these may have already gone by the time you read this, but if not, the asking prices for each are as follows;

Guerilla; £ 55,000
Durba; £ 50,000
Why the Long Face; £ 25,000
Shannon’s Pride; £ 22,000
Jodante; £ 18,000
Moscow Leader; £ 15,000
Valerun; £ 10,000
Upswing; £ 8,000
Fiennes; £ 5,000
Mersey Mirage; £ 4,000
Un-named 4yo gelding by Pasternak out of Half Irish; £ 25,000
Un-named 4yo gelding by Jendali out of Carly-J; £ 15,000

NB Please do NOT mail Brancepethfan with sales enquiries regarding these horses; this is a fan blog only and I have no means of communicating any interest in them to the Guest operation.


GALLOPS EXERCISE

Durba, Fiennes, Guerilla, Mersey Mirage and Reedsman all took in a piece of exercise, work rider Ciaran pleased enough with the last-named to confirm to Guest that the boss should let the horse take his chance at Uttoxeter on Tuesday. In addition, there were pieces of work from a trio of horses on the way back and due to feature in entries in the next few weeks, namely FREE WILL, NORTH LANDING and SOVIET SOCIETY; also from winning chaser BILL’S ECHO (after he had dumped his work-rider Bev early on, Guest’s 76 year-old father having ridden him with no such misfortune previously!); newcomer to this stable ROAN RAIDER; and two un-named 2yos (an Intikhab colt and a Swain colt).


HORSES PARADING

The two un-named 4yos, plus Jodante, Moscow Leader, Upswing, Valerun and Why the Long Face all paraded (along with a very unruly – and admittedly only half-broken – but stunning 2yo grey Environment Friend colt), but it was the mixture of stable stars and old favourites which got more appreciative gasps from the audience. Guest himself partnered RED MARAUDER, 15 years young and clearly enjoying his dotage at Brancepeth Manor Farm; followed by NOSAM, also 15yo but still in active service and an absolute gent to the child half his age to whom he was giving a ride.

LES ARCS (some race in Dubai), TYNEANDTHYNEAGAIN (John Smiths and Midland Nationals), RED STRIKER (John Smiths National), OUR ARMAGEDDON (all the big 2m 4f Cheltenham handicaps) and XAIPETE all followed, Guest describing himself as “the only person yet to have given up on Red Striker” before confirming the horses’ respective targets as indicated in the brackets.

Star of the show, however, was undoubtedly DESERT ORCHID, generously supplied for the day by owner Richard Burridge – now of course represented at Brancepeth by BLACK SMOKE and CHAOS THEORY (and previously (and briefly) by the delinquent ZAPATA HIGHWAY), though both of those horses were absent from Brancepeth today and are presumably enjoying their holidays back home with Burridge). He was kind enough to share a few memories with the audience during the chat session as the dazzling 26yo grey paraded round, describing Dessie as a “complete tart” where days like this are concerned, and the horse was still patiently allowing photos to be taken of himself with families and individuals well into mid-afternoon.


CHAT

As well as Richard Burridge’s reminiscences and Carrie Humble’s praising of Richard Guest’s commitment to the quality of equine welfare both during and after his horses’ racing careers, Guest himself confirmed the setting up of a satellite yard for his Flat horses in Bawtry, near Doncaster. Given the number of her horses now appearing under Guest’s name, it might be more accurate to describe the yard and its assets as bidded for and acquired from previous incumbent Vicky Haigh, but finer details are awaited on this. Suffice it to say that all of Guest’s Flat operations will move there in the next 12 months or so.

I must say hello to the two gentlemen from the FLY BY NIGHT SYNDICATE with whom I had a nice chat whilst touring round Guest’s stables as the Day drew to a close. I hope you enjoy an upturn in fortunes with BALLYBOE BOY soon, chaps; although he’s not covered himself with too much glory so far, his run at Perth on Wednesday back over hurdles ought to have served as a confidence booster, and let’s hope there’s a small fast-ground chase for him some time soon.