Winter warriors not quite at best

LAST week pretty much revolved around our two winter warriors – Rockley Point and Nellie French – who were both in action at Newcastle last Friday evening.

They’ve both put in some courageous runs through the last few months, but this was one of those rare occasions where neither of them were at their best.

Nellie French might just have found this one race too many after her Southwell heroics.

I felt my hand was forced into running her under a penalty, a decision that was vindicated after Tuesday when the handicapper put her up by a rather steeplooking 6lb.

However, her jockey, Phil Dennis, never thought that she was showing her usual sparkle this time and she could only manage seventh behind Spanish Angel, albeit in what was quite a hot race for the grade.

She could have a couple of weeks well-earned rest now, and the same might be in store for

He ran twice last week if you remember, and while Wolverhampton didn’t work out at all, this time he got to the front but wasn’t able to sustain his effort, dropping to sixth close home behind Atrafan.

He might find the six furlongs there just a bit stiff for him now, but either way, he will have a small bit of time off now and we will then prepare him for a race at Southwell on February 10 – a 0-50 over five furlongs. That should suit him nicely.

Our only other runner last week was Kitty Pi, who had one more chance to see if she could make it as a racehorse.

Sadly, she couldn’t and has now gone back with her owners who are hoping to breed from her. Not a thoroughbred, but possibly something like a Connemara.

She is a nice horse so hopefully she’ll transmit that down the line to her offspring.

So, although it was a blank weekend in terms of runners under rules, our pointer, Cooldine Bog, was in action again between the flags at Alnwick under Jack Stenhouse.

Together they finished sixth which I was really pleased with. Jack’s riding gets better with each ride, and there is a race for them in a couple of weeks – Friars Haugh at Kelso.

This week we will be very light on runners, with probably only Killing Eve hitting the track at Newcastle on Friday.

This is her third start, so she needs it to get a rating, and I would like her to run well, and show a bit of progress from her first two outings.

I wouldn’t want her to be rated so low that she struggles to get into races going forward and, while it looks a decent race of its type, a prominent display would be ideal.

I won’t actually be in attendance on the day, as I am treating myself to a bit of a busman’s holiday and going down to Newmarket for their two-day Horses-in-Training sale.

I’m not sure I’ll be buying anything, but never say never, and whatever else, it is a good chance to do a bit of networking, talk to a few people and spend a couple of days doing something different.

I will be flying down from Edinburgh to Stansted – mostly down to train strikes, rather than me being flash! – and will spend a couple of nights in the Newmarket area too.

That’s something to really look forward to. We have had a mad-busy time of it