Last night, I was a guest on the Taking a Pull Podcast. I will talk about that later, but it literally reminded me that I have been ‘taking a pull’ on writing these blogs. I can’t believe it was December when I wrote the last one. So, let me bring you up to date:
We ran at Punchestown in December. It was a horrible day, wind and rain coming in sideways, the ground was extremely heavy, my binoculars would not focus, and none of us, Chosen Comrade included, enjoyed the experience. Sam (Ewing) was annoyed with himself for not making the running after Amen Kate unseated at the start, but he was being unnecessarily hard on himself. We did learn that, going forward, we would let the horse stride on, not necessarily make the running, but let her use her jumping and not pull her back behind horses. We were slightly concerned that she would be too fresh (like she is at home), but, in fairness, she has been nothing but professional on the course, so we can put that concern away. By the time the inquest was concluded, we had regained our faith in her and were looking forward to the Solerina at Fairyhouse on January 24th.
My confidence must have been so compelling that not only did Kim agree to come over for that race, but two friends from Ohio did as well. It was either the race or a California wine tour the following weekend; Dublin won.
It’s a long way to come and then have the racing being cancelled. Luckily, there are plenty of pubs in Dublin, and those plus an Escape Room (no, we didn’t) helped to soften the pain.
Kim and our friends wanted to ‘meet’ Chosen Comrade, so we stopped off at the yard. Kim loved her, watched her canter, and then sought refuge in the car as the rain continued to lash down. We went on to stay at the Adare Manor, which is the most beautiful hotel with the best and friendliest service. However, it is also disconcerting. It is owned by the largest racehorse owner in Europe, J P McManus, and yet the WIFI ‘blocks’ access to racing sites, a delicious but frustrating irony. Great place for a Ryder Cup, though!
Kim had suggested I stay on for the rescheduled race, but I beat her to it and agreed with Peter that we should forget about it, as the ground wasn’t going to get any better and we had struggled in the mud at Punchestown. We decided to take the chance that our rating would be high enough to get into the Mares Novice at Cheltenham and that we wouldn’t run again beforehand.
Entries were made on February 10th and there are 47 entries with a maximum field of 22. There is a ‘confirmation’ stage on Friday, March 6th, during which the entries will be reduced as plans begin to finalize. At that time, if there are more than 22 still left in, the horses will be rated by the UK handicapper; the top 22 being guaranteed a place and the others ranked in order, with the highest number being the first to replace one of the ‘guaranteed’ runners if they are not declared; the race is on March 12th and that declaration date is two days before: March 10th.
Ideally, we would want to know we are guaranteed a run on March 6th, and at this stage, based on the initial entries, my own ratings, and a bit of guesswork about likely runners, I am fairly confident we will get in. If we have to wait until Tuesday before, then it causes all sorts of issues. Obviously, the stress, but even if we do get in, we will have to bring the horse over closer to the race than ideal.
Of course, we could travel over a couple of days earlier and keep our fingers crossed that she gets in at the Declaration stage, but it’s very expensive (around €2000), and the disappointment and financial costs would be a very difficult cocktail to swallow. Anyway, let’s work on the basis that she gets a guaranteed run on March 6th!
OK, you have been patient enough: now is the time to talk about the Taking a Pull podcast and how it came about. First, a short overview of what the Podcast is:
Basically, it consists of two guys (Dec and Andy) sitting in their respective homes, chatting about an upcoming Irish race meeting. They go through each race in detail, and what makes it unique is that they often spend more time on a 0-100 Hurdle than on a Graded race. Their knowledge, insight, and understanding of racing is exceptional, and I have spent many happy morning walks listening to their conversations. Last night was Edition 147 so they have been going for some time and have had some great selections consistently; most recently the two Bumpers winner at the DRF at 201/ and 18/1.
I did a random search on X a few weeks ago and noticed that Dec was a massive fan of Chosen Comrade. He had been at Limerick when she won her maiden hurdle and described her as a ‘right one’ (that’s a good thing) and later, in response to someone, put her up as an e/w bet at Cheltenham, provided the ground dried out. One of the joys of being an owner is when people take a shine to your horse, so I reached out to Dec, told him who I was, that I listened to the podcast, and thanked him for his support. He responded, asking if I would be happy to be on the pod nearer to Cheltenham, and now here we are. I also planned to catch up with him and Andy when we ran at Fairyhouse, but, as you know, that never materialized.
Last week, someone sent me a photo of Dec (red woolly hat) looking at Chosen Comrade in the parade ring before she ran at Limerick. Maybe it’s my imagination, but it sure looks like ‘love at first sight’ to me!
The idea last night was to talk about my background in racing, my relationship with Peter, and how Chosen Comrade is doing. The guys started the show, I came on after a couple of minutes and stayed for around 20 minutes, before I left, and they got stuck into Saturday’s card at Fairyhouse. I'm providing this information so you can scroll to the 20-minute mark and skip all my stuff. Here’s a link: TAP 147
In case you want to listen, I won’t repeat anything I said. However, I do want to take this opportunity to clarify one comment I made: I mentioned that Bay of Freedom was born on April 7th, 2009, and then said this was the day I met my future wife. On reflection, saying ‘my current wife’ may have been better, or even ‘my wife’ would have been better still. I am pretty sure Kim knew exactly what I was clumsily trying to say, and, as I pointed out, what are the chances of meeting two wives on the same day? At this point, I was digging myself into a bigger hole, so I stopped talking!
I will be providing an update on March 6th, when I hope to have some good news about our participation. I may have to wait until March 7th, though, to get the balloting sequence, so stay tuned.
Hopefully, it will be all systems go. Our landlady has kindly agreed for us to stay on Thursday night, if necessary, three friends are going to come down and join the three of us already there, and I will be able to use my full ticket allocation for Owners and Trainers. At some point, I hope to have a pint with Andy and Dec and continue living the dream.