Not a bad month, truth be told. Kerryhill stepped up from a good run at Cheltenham in December by routing a nice field in the Grade 2 River Don Novice’s Hurdle at Doncaster at the end of the month. Given a good ride by Brian Hughes he was travelling strongly turning for home and despite still looking green under pressure he quickened away to win by 7 lengths. It was great for his owners, the aptly named They Are Never At Home Partnership as well as everyone at home.
Autumn Return ran twice in fairly quick succession and had two solid runs with a second over 2m at Market Rasen and a third at Catterick over 2m 3f. She is now qualified for the Go North Lady Buttons race at Musselburgh in April and we hope to find her an opportunity around the beginning of March to keep her ticking over.
Lavida Adiva is looking a shrewd purchase as she followed up her win with a close third against the boys back up in trip. She didn’t fully dictate matters either but she battled back strongly despite looking beaten before entering the straight. She is learning as she goes and thriving on racing at the moment so we will keep taking up opportunities as they come.
Southern Babylon was the only fly in the ointment with a disappointing run at Sedgefield. This followed a poor run at Haydock and although this run was marginally better I still was not happy. We will step her up in trp and I hope to avoid tacky ground if I can as thats all her two disappointing runs have in common.