‘CARING IS WINNING’ is a strap line that has been suggested to me as it encapsulates our approach, perfectly. It is particularly rewarding that outsiders have noticed that the love of each and every horse in our care, alongside a deep determination to find the key to their happiness and success, has been paying dividends.
Mr Vango’s meteoric rise from a giant English pointer with a reputation for being very slow, to a four-time premier handicap chase winner was a highlight of last season. Smugglers Haven also won three races, rewarding the time that we had allowed her to recover from training and winning a point to point as a four-year-old.
2025/26 Season so Far
The beginning of this season has also been fruitful with wins from Jungle Wood (who had been pretty hopeless on the racecourse previously when finding it difficult to cope with the stresses of a big yard), Teddington Lock, and Smugglers Haven at Cheltenham with Lily onboard, which made the win particularly special. Lily works extraordinarily hard, definitely prefers animals to people and her relationship with the horses plays a massive part in our success both in the yard and on the racecourse.
Mr Vango
Mr Vango is still very much our flagship horse, and he continued to showcase his old-fashioned determination and stamina with another heroic run at Aintree in the Bechers Chase last week. We wanted to give him a look at the National fences and despite the ground being faster than he would like and the trip far too short, he galloped and jumped in his usual effortless style and ran on valiantly to be beaten by the shortest of short head giving away a stone to Twig who ran well in the National last year. He was in front by a stride before the line and a stride after so not to win was a little bit galling but as usual, we were all massively proud of our great big hero. He seems to have come out of the race very well, so we are aiming for the Wesh National if the ground comes up soft enough.
Smugglers Haven
The admirably consistent Smugglers Haven who had not been out of the first two in her last eight runs, reminded us that they are all far from machines when, remembering the chaos of her previous start at Cheltenham, she spooked at the tape at Taunton, which meant that she found herself distracted when approaching the first fence for the first time with the whole field in front of her. Very uncharacteristically, she failed to listen to Lily, panicked, tried to back off and slipped which led her to think that she should try and imitate the humans she loves so and use the Fosbury flop technique to get over the fence. This gave her plenty of height over the obstacle but, unfortunately, there was no cushion to land on. Thankfully both she and Lily are fine and she will now have a break before returning over hurdles. I am sure that she will be back chasing before long as she is actually an extraordinarily good jumper and I am very confident that there is plenty more to look forward to with her on the racecourse.
Point-to Point News
The opening meeting of the point to point season at Larkhill was greatly enjoyed by all who know our horses because our old favourite Myth Buster (who is ridden in the school by a nine-year-old and had already been to a hunt scurry as a lead for Southfield Lily and worked with Mr Vango at Ffos Las) put his fitness to good use to beat the odds on favourite IK Brunel.
We took three to Larkhill last weekend and Kalipso His, who was on a recovery mission after being badly hampered when running with great credit at Badbury Rings at the beginning of the season, travelled strongly but lost vital ground when jumping a bit too carefully over the last few.
Bits Baloo will have learnt a lot from her first run in the bumper. Southfield Scope gave Lily a great feel and arrived in the race travelling very easily when he made a bad mistake at the third last, so it was a day full of promise for the future.
Looking forward to 2026
It will be a busy Christmas! Coneygree will enjoy appearing as an ambassador for the Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) charity at Kempton and we will be looking forward to the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow on the 27th December.
We are looking for more staff and particularly have a space for a 16/17-year-old to join our friendly but successful family team. Lily and I would be very happy to teach someone who has good general riding experience the skills required to ride a racehorse as long as they are coming into the job with a genuine love of the horse and do not mind a bit of hard work!
If you are interested in joining us, please get in touch.
