Foals at Foot

 

The foaling season is well and truly behind us. Work continues however improving the environment for our horses. At present we have 7 mares resident on the farm. This year they produced 3 colts and 4 fillies between them.




Pictured above is Stella Marine with her chestnut colt born on the 4th February 09, by Medicean.



Stella Marine was purchased by Freedom Farm at Newmarket's December Sales and this is her first foal.

Hares in Abundance

 

Sadly we are now past the longest day. However, these long warm Summer evenings have their own magic and seem to have bought out our resident hares population. James swears they are bigger than ever this year!

If any one is interested in joining James to see the hares on an evening stroll around the farm please contact him on 01440-783789

Zowington Flies Home at Folkstone

 

Congratulations to Mr. Owen Pointing and connections on Zowington's win in the 4.15 at Folkstone.

How nice it was that he was ridden by a Mr. William Carson, who is in fact the grandson of the great Willie Carson.

Zowington was bred at Freedom Farm out of Mr. Pointing's mare Carmela Owen.

Bill Turner

 

Some years ago, Bill Turner trained one of Vague Shot's sons and I seem to remember he won a few races with the horse.

But that pales into insignificance when compared to his latest training feat that has just been recorded in the Racing Post.

He's broken and ridden a zebra!

Good to see that he rides it without a hard hat! He's also 61! So he's still got a lot of life yet!

Interesting that as I write, that this story has only appeared so far in the Racing Post. I would have thought it was the sort of tale, that most newspapers would find worth printing.

Jobs for Latvian Girls

 

I have recently been contacted by several girls from Latvia, as they have been offered jobs on this stud. At present we have no job vacancies and if we did, they would be shown on this site.

This is all deceit and possibly fraud.

I have reported these fake job offers to the police.

So please, if you are offered a job on this stud, then check with us first. It is unlikely, it will be a real job unless it is offered by James, Michael or Lyndsey.

A Frosty Day at Freedom Farm

 

It was cold last night. I tried to play real tennis at Cambridge and virtually froze.


This is the end of the new buildings. Note the sky.




Vague Shot looks almost miserable. But he was friendly to me, when I stroked him.

Also at his age, he knows how to keep warm and makes sure his rug doesn't move. Incidentally, he still doesn't grow a decent coat in the winter.


This is the new offices from the same position as on The Stud.

Note Vague Shot's stable at the right.

Stella Marine

 

Times may be hard with the credit crunch hitting many, but it didn't appear that way at the December Sales at Newmarket yesterday. Quite a few broodmares changed hands for over 100,000 guineas, with one, Princesse Dansante, being purchased by Sheikh Mohammed's Darley operation for well over a million.

We had hoped to purchase Tenderly, but she was out of our league at over half-a-million guineas. But as Michael and I joked, at least he has taste!

Around lunchtime, we were in the ring again hoping to buy a mare called Stella Marine, who is a full sister to the Group winning mare, Stella Blue. Judging by the prices earlier, we felt we would be unlucky, but we got the four-year-old filly we wanted at a price we could afford.

Christmas Card 2008

 

This picture by Prunella Hawke was used for the 2008 Stud Christmas Card.

Little Carmela

 

Congratulations to Little Carmela, a filly bred on the stud for Owen Pointing, that won nicely at Kempton yesterday.

Poor Stuart Williams, the trainer, is in bed with chicken-pox.

Water Pipes

 

I've now put in lots and lots of new blue water pipes on the stud.

I've also used various different makes of connector to link it all up. The best I've found so far seem to be the Philmac ones, that I get from Ridgeons in Newmarket.

Their great advantage is that they connect to the pipe much easier than the other makes I've tried and this makes connection in difficult places down holes so much quicker and more reliable.

Bold Bunny

 

Bold Bunny is a horse that Celia bred from her mare Bold and Beautiful. Records show that she was not the best of racehorses, but if you look at the family, they have certainly produced their fair share of winners. And not all at the lowest level!

I would also claim that she wasn't the luckiest of racehorses and deserved better than her two third places. But what owner wouldn't say that?

She was actually called Bold Bunny, because her mother was Bold and Beautiful and her foster mother was nicknamed Bunny. Bold and Beautiful died soon after Bold Bunny was born.

On Thursday though her Needwood Blade colt was bought at auction by Shadwell Estate for 58,000 guineas, after being sold in December as a foal for 40,000. So it does seem that she produces the good looking horses which appear in her family.

Chinese and Eights

 

The Olympics will open at 8:08 on the 8th of the 8th, 2008.

Perhaps they will be lucky as eight is the Chinese lucky number!

Twenty years ago, Celia had a horse called Golden Panda, who she had named after a Chinese friend’s restaurant in Ipswich. On the 8th of the 8th, 1988, Golden Panda ran in a handicap at Nottingham. Given a superb ride by Steve Cauthen, she won easily at odds of twelve to one.


Some Chinese restaurateurs couldn’t hold back and there were rumours of bookmakers losing large sums of money. Whether these were true or not, I do not know, but we did get lots of free meals!

Celia's Day

 

On Saturday, all of Celia's friends and family sponsored a race in her name at Newmarket.

We all met at the stud for drinks and to show everybody what we have done to create one of the first low-energy and efficient studs in the country.


Vague Shot also showed off to everybody as he always does.


The race was won by Medicea Sidera, ridden by George Baker and trained by E Vaughan.

Weatherbys

 

Weatherbys get a lot of stick from racehorse owners and trainers, but as I don't handle all of that side I can't comment.

But I've just been dealing with them over the page for the race in Celia's name on the 26th of July. The page went backwards and forwards several times and I can't fault their design or their patience.

Good for them!

Hares

 

These two pictures were taken of hares in the fields at the back of the house. I actually photographed them from an open bedroom window.