It's number 9 for wonderful Aramis Grey !

Thursday, 03 November 2022

The Musketeer's amazing mare Aramis Grey notched up a ninth career win at Kempton last night. The gallant grey has now won four races this season at four different racecourses and unbelievably at five years old she is still improving. This was her thirteenth run of 2022 and she obviously thrives on her racing.

Yesterdays win followed up last months success at Chelmsford however this was a tougher assignment being a Class 3 Handicap. Several of the owners were able to make the trip to Kempton, these were Peter Sakal, Alan Davies and Ann and Darren Lewitt and we are sure the remaining members roared her home just as loudly watching on TV !

Regular pilot Callum Shepherd was back on board and they have formed a great partnership. She was drawn 3 and as they jumped from the stalls she was body slammed by the horse next to her but our battle hardened Aramis was unfazed and being the professional she is just settled into her rhythm and got on with her job. Travelling well throughout and buried among horses in the middle of the field she occupied a slightly more prominent position than she usually does. Going into the final furlong Callum's timing was impeccable as he brought her rallying down the outside to hit the line a neck in front of the favourite Apollo One. This race was the last chance to qualify for the London Sprint Series Final and Rae has entered her this morning. She fully deserves to take her chance.

Our warmest congratulations to the Musketeers and a big thank you to Callum Shepherd for a fantastic ride. Well done to the team at home who keep Aramis happy and healthy and the biggest well done of all to our superstar herself !

Annual yearling parade

Monday, 31 October 2022

On Saturday we held our annual yearling parade which was very well attended by owners old and new plus their guests.

This was also the day when we announced the yearlings for our new three horse syndicate for 2023. The syndicate does not yet have a name so any ideas welcome please ! Rae had already selected two of the yearlings for the members and they were the filly by Harry Angel out of L'Eglise plus the Havana Grey filly out of Soul Searching. That just left the third one to be chosen on the day and Rae decided it would be a fun idea to draw the name out of a hat. Chris and Lesley Mills young granddaughter Ellie drew the name and revealed that the final yearling was the Masar filly out of Ape Attack, much to the member's delight. They have three super fillies and we wish them the best of luck going forward.

Those who couldn't be present on the day were sent videos and photographs of their horses parading. These included Derek Willis whose newly named Malibu Rising is a lovely filly by Expert Eye out of La Chapelle, Eamonn Duggan's homebred Lia Rose, named after his little granddaughter, this grey filly is by Ulysses out of Rosa Grace, and Keith Walton and his family's filly by Due Diligence out of Really Chic. Keith has reserved the name Family Matters so she will be named in due course.

The Rainy Day Partnership's new yearling was on show, a filly by Camelot out of Whirlygig from a family that Rae knows well. We were delighted that Jon and Sophie Mitchell could attend as they were able to see their Postponed filly out of Indicia as well as the Camelot x Whirlygig (they are also members of the Rainy Day Partnership). It was great to see Bob Goodes and Barry and Alex Stewart of the Storm Again syndicate whose colt by Tasleet out of Mawqed had only arrived into the yard the day before. Barry and Alex were late arrivals and literally walked into the yard just as their colt was about to parade ! We were also delighted to see Colin Joseph was able to make it, owner of the two year old filly Show of Hands. Out of the three fillies for sale on the day interest has been expressed in Noble Mission x Volver and Tasleet x Alwafaa. The filly by Camelot out of Trail of Tears is still for sale but with the black type in her pedigree and the second dam being the super sprinter Cherokee Rose it won't be long before she is snapped up too.

We welcomed John Brosnan and his father Billy who are interested in ownership and we hope they enjoyed the morning and meeting some of our existing owners. The food was provided by Jo Sharkey at Newmarket Secret Kitchen and as usual was enjoyed immensely ! Thank you Jo. Special thanks to all of the hardworking team behind the scenes at Chestnut Tree Stables who helped to make the morning a success. Final thanks to our fantastic owners for their ongoing support and we wish all of them the very best of luck with their lovely horses in the future.

Two out of two for the Musketeers !

Friday, 14 October 2022

What a week it has been for The Musketeers, five days on from Aramis Grey's win at Chelmsford the syndicate's other horse Cry Havoc returned to the Essex track to record her second win of the season.

Cry Havoc's return to form has been nothing short of remarkable considering the life saving hock surgery she endured last year. She has now had back to back wins with this latest victory coming after her win at Lingfield in August. Over her favoured trip of seven furlongs and ridden once again by Ray Dawson she was well fancied for this Class 4 handicap. Breaking from stall 8 she was covered up in midfield until the final furlong when she began her challenge and stole a length and a half on them. However she had a fight on her hands as the fast finishing Odisseo closed her down but thankfully for us the line came just in time. 

The winning margin was a nose but this was a well judged ride by Ray Dawson and our thanks go to him. We are delighted for the Musketeers and so pleased for Bola who looks after her at home.

Amazing Aramis Grey

Monday, 10 October 2022

The Musketeers syndicate were rewarded with an eighth win from their amazing mare Aramis Grey who plundered yet another victory on Saturday night at Chelmsford.

Her last win was at Windsor in May but she has run well and been placed a few times since. At this time of year our syndicate members decide whether to keep their horses in training for another year or not. Following a vote the decision was made to carry on with the now five year old Aramis Grey and she has rewarded them immediately proving that she still has plenty left in the tank as far as racing is concerned. 

Saturday's race was the feature on an eight race card at Chelmsford. She was strongly fancied and with familiar face Callum Shepherd riding her the signs were positive. Racing in her customary fashion towards the rear of the field she came wide as they turned into the straight and made easy work of her seven rivals to go on and win by a cosy three quarters of a length. The Musketeers were represented on the evening by Ann and Darren Lewitt who were understandably delighted. Ann was in tears and this just shows how much racehorses can mean to their owners. All of the Musketeers are so proud and happy of Aramis Grey as are we here in the yard. Congratulations to them and thank you to Callum Shepherd who gave her a great ride yet again. We would like to say well done to Lewis Purdie who led her up as this was his first winner for the yard.

Keep going Aramis, you really are amazing !

A first win for War Chant

Wednesday, 05 October 2022

Vicky Markowiak's homebred two year old colt War Chant gained his first win yesterday at Brighton.

This striking colt is by War Command out of Vicki's mare Fanci That who was also trained by Rae and bred by Vicki. War Chant always looked forward and this was his fourth run of the year. He made his debut back in June at Nottingham over six furlongs where he ran very green and also received a hefty bump in the race which did not help him. He didn't run again until the end of August when he ran at Newmarket's July course, this time over seven furlongs and again showed his greenness by jumping slowly from the stalls and not really getting into the race. His next run was at Leicester where the penny was starting to drop and he travelled much better in the early part of the race despite weakening two furlongs out and dropping off the pace. These first three runs on first glance at the form book look poor efforts but they were all competitive Novice races so when he was given a rating of 50 for his handicap debut he stood every chance among horses of the same level as himself. 

Vicky and Rae decided to target a Nursery Handicap at Brighton over seven furlongs and David Probert was booked to ride. He raced handily during the early part of the race and as they drew into the straight they fanned out across the track and with just over a furlong to go they moved across to the near side rail. With half a furlong to go David Probert got to work on War Chant who responded well to pressure to win by a length and three quarters. This was a determined effort from the colt as he was also hampered slightly by Bold as Brass who hung right and gave him a bump as they turned into the straight.

His win is another homebred success for Vicky and we are delighted for her as she is a great supporter of the yard and thoroughly deserves this win. We would like to extend our grateful thanks to David Probert for the ride and and to say well done to Steven Ford who looks after War Chant.