No Hope becomes Some Hope

Hope Road owned by the ONEWAY National Hunt Partnership surprised us all be getting a run in the Handicap Hurdle at Stratford tomorrow, Monday 10 March, at 4.40 pm. He will be ridden by Noel Felihy who road him last time at Warwick. Hopefully the forecast gales will not be too severe and racing will take place.

Unfortunately it was unrealistic to think we would get a run in the Fred Winter at Cheltenham on Tuesday so the Stratford option was taken instead.

Nervous anticipation

As I'm posting on here as much as anyone I just wanted to make sure that everyone understands that my views are my own and may not necessarily be the views of the other posters, especially Tom.

When Tom was riding I was very keen on National Hunt and enjoyed going to the largest meetings such as Cheltenham, the Welsh National and the 'Sandown' Gold Cup but now-a-days I'm finding it difficult to get that excited about it!

This year I've been invited by a supplier to go to World Hurdle Day at the Cheltenham Festival. I'm pleased to be going but I guess that unlike in the past, when I've been studying the horses and making sure that I know exactly what's going on, this year will probably start and finish in the bar.

It's now quite a few years since I worked with a bloodstock agent in Kentucky but it was probably that trip that made me much more interested in the flat.

Whenever I go to the States I always seem to cause controversy. As a teenager I remember staying with a family in Bay City, Michigan and upsetting the son by saying that I thought Bruce Springsteen was rubbish. I have since changed my mind. When working with Chad Schumer I probably repeated my conviction that National Hunt racing was much better than flat.

However, my appreciation for the flat started to develop the day I visited Nureyev at Stud. Just the fact that he 'sneezed' all over my jacket got instant respect for some bizarre reason. I was in awe of this magnificent beast. And it wasn't just because of his daily ritual!

Today I prefer to go straight to the AW form rather than a Kelso or Huntingdon. I do always stop to have a second look at Wincanton, Newton Abbot or Taunton but I think that this is just habit as I always used to turn to these cards to see if Tom was riding.

This year I'm really looking forward to that first Donny meeting. I can't say I have a horse in mind just yet for the Lincoln but I do like the look of a past winner.

ONEWAY has already saddled six winners from 12 flat runners during 2008. I know Tom is keen to beat last year’s total and he's had a great start to do just that. He's got a fair few 2-year-olds this year but nothing out of the top drawer on breeding. Of course he's been fishing in very different ponds from the big stables but hopefully there may be a star or two.

It was this time last year that Tom eventually sold Max One Two Three and look what happened with her. Let's just hope one or two of the new recruits can perform to the same level.

Max will be entered in many of the top 3-year-old fillies’ races this year. It's going to be exciting. But you never know what the season holds until that first outing.

It's funny but from my experience the really top horses cause more anxiety than excitement.

I guess it's because they will tend to do worse than anticipated.

The anticipation equation

Anticipation = 3-year-old will win the Guineas, the Derby or Oaks and a Breeders Cup or Arc.
So I’m looking forward
with excitement to Parisian Gift, Clifton Dancer, Zaskar.....

Just like Tomato Ketchup there are lots of copy cats...

People are always trying to copy the Oneway model of training horses but this may have gone too far!

http://gprime.net/video.php/patchesthehorse

Hope Road a big hope for his first run over hurdles

Today, as long as there are no further downpours or last minute cancellations will see the first run of Hope Road for the ONEWAY National Hunt Partnership. He's a nice horse and probably a more natural jumper than either Political Intrigue or Master Of The Race. I'm not sure if he's got the same ability of Political Intrigue but I hope he will show more willingness than the Master. The partners are 2 for 7 over hurdles, it would be great to be 3 for 8 but it is probably wishful thinking first time out.

The race looks interesting with the favourite having run second to Celestial Halo at Newbury. That run may or may not count for much as Prideus was a distant second but it gives everyone a yard stick. The horse that strikes most fear is the David Pipe trained Rock All. Already a 'St Leger' winner this runner could be anything.

The yard is in good form with 3 winners from 7 runners in 2008. I feel that we've been slightly unlucky with the last two runners. What's For Tea ran a solid enough race on Tuesday but came up against an unraced horse who clearly knew the time of day. Yesterday Michaela rode Savile's Delight at Lingfield and the race just didn't pan out as we would have wanted. No pace meant she had little choice but to try and make all which is very difficult at that course. They were second beaten 1/2 length. The horse may run again next week.

Adding to the numbers - winners and yearlings!

This week I'm in Newmarket for the Tattersalls' October Yearling Sales. We have had one winning bid so far for hip 215, a nice looking son of Halling out of a Sadler's Wells Group 1 placed mare, Mystery Play. http://www.tattersalls.com/cat/october/2007/215.pdf.

As a half brother to Conceal a listed multiple winner in the Emirates and with a further 6 winning half siblings I had expected it to make a bit more than the 25,000 guineas that we paid.

We have also reached our target for the year in terms of winners....but we're not stopping there!

Last night Richard Kingscote gave What's For Tea a great ride from the front at Kempton to record our twentieth winner of the year. It was also the thirteenth winner of the year for Alan Solomon and I would like to thank him for all the support that he has given to ONEWAY this year.

Also a big thank you to all the staff for working so hard and making our success possible. Well done team!

We have a few entries this weekend including Gross Prophet who has been declared to run in a Conditions race at Ascot. It will be his 10th race this season and I am sure he will run well. Also Max One Two Three goes for a listed race at York. There are 15 runners declared and we have been drawn in the middle. She has already been put up 6 pounds by the handicapper without running as the two horses that came home first and second in her last race at Newbury performed well in a Group 3 at Newmarket.

On Sunday, October 14th, What's For Tea in entered at Lingfield, Clifton Dancer is in a Nursery at Goodwood and Ishi Adiva is entered at Bath where she won as a 2-year-old.