Plumpton Raid

The stable, courtesy of the Valence Racing syndicates, made a raid on Plumpton today.  Twenty six of the owners and family hired a hospitality box for the day (a great decision considering the weather) while others opted for the Owners & Trainers bar.  Those in the box (actually three interlinked boxes) enjoyed fizz on arrival and then a delicious three course meal to get them in the mood.  Trainer, Linda, was their guest of honour.

 

Tucking into lunch in the box, Linda on the centre table.

The racing side of things didn't go to plan to start with as Due South was declared a non runner in the first race because of the deteriorating ground conditions after heavy rain.  Indeed the meeting only survived after a mid morning inspection.
Itoldyou ran in the Sussex National, the race he had won the previous year, but he was never going with his usual enthusiasm and was pulled up with more than a circuit to go.

 

Itoldyou before his race.



Things began to turn more favourable when 8 horses pulled out of the last race where we had Kayflin and Fifi L'Amour running, leaving them just 4 rivals.  For the first time, Linda had to declare a different colour cap for one of them to distinguish them as they had the same owners' silks.

Kayflin yellow cap, Fifi blue.  But which jockey drew the short straw and had to wear the dirty silks just vacated by Tom Cannon after tracking the field on Itoldyou?

For much of the final circuit it looked as if we could get second and third but Fifi faded after the last leaving Kayflin to put a smile on everyone's faces at the end of the day when she took the runners up spot in the unsaddling enclosure.

Kayflin pleases everyone with her second place.