Retirement Celebration.

Today the Saturday breakfast was held at Hecton Farm to celebrate the career and retirement of Itoldyou.  In addition to his connections, lots of the Saturday regulars came to raise a glass to him.

Various items of memorabilia were brought along including race DVDs and the syndicate organizer was presented with one of Itoldyou's shoes mounted on a wood block.

After breakfast everyone went outside to give him a pat and some carrots, and also say hello to Red Anchor (Ginger) who was stabled alongside.

Finally Red Anchor and Itoldyou were turned out in one of the paddocks, and if ever proof was needed that the correct decision regarding retirement while still sound had been made the following video shows two very happy horses.

Back Racing And Nearly A Winner

Racing resumed today, after the forced shutdown due to equine, flu and Linda had runners at Plumpton.  Mr Jack was her star performer as he finished second in the 2 and a half mile handicap hurdle. Brendan Powell had him on the inside close up behind the leaders for the first two miles and at the end of the back straight for the final time it was clear that Mr Jack and the favourite were going the best.  They battled it out up the home straight with the favourite coming out just the better by one length.  Mr Jack has run consistently good races this season and surely the win can't be far away.

Stable Stars

Great news for Linda and the yard when they learnt that they had been awarded two stars in the 2019 Lycetts Team Champion Awards.  They were told that, "Your nomination was very good and the yard has been awarded 2 stars, which denotes a yard that has shown very good levels of team ethos and staff engagement". The assessment criteria for Lycetts Team Champion Award are based on The Winning Approach, a best practice standard developed for the NTF by consultants Sport and Beyond. They include effective recruitment and induction systems, a safe and positive working environment, developing staff to fulfil their potential, and rewarding achievement. Linda and the team equalled or bettered several high profile training establishments.  Linda is hoping that they can achieve the 3 star level for 2020.