Happy New Year & Weekly Update
Happy New Year:
Happy New Year to all of our Club Members and everyone generally! 2020 was a year that affected and impacted not only our members, but horse racing equally and the world completely! Ursa Major Racing bucked the trend to most Racing clubs and syndicates by tripling in size and expanding our roster of horses to 13 in training. 2021 is going to be another tough year for everyone but Ursa Major has got so much to look forward to with our first Irish runner, cementing a horse for our Southern members and potentially seeing Candescence entered into a listed race! Fingers crossed 2021 is as exciting our Ursa Major as it has the promise to be.
Mark Walford Horses Update
We have received in some videos this week from Mark Walford of our horses currently in training or residing at Mark’s. There is even a wonderful video of Event of Sivola being schooled in Mark’s arena against a snowy setting. We should note Candescence, Testing Times and Clifftop Heaven have been on their winter breaks and will be back in the yard soon!
George Baker Horse Update
Just before Kayarnah raced off in her maiden hurdle we received in a delightful video of Kayarnah being schooled over hurdles. George Baker sends all his jumpers to Henrietta Knight to be schooled, so its fair to say they will get schooled by one of the best in the jumping game!
Irish Horse Update
Sweetasteoflove officially started his lease term with Ursa Major Racing on 1st January 2021. Whilst it is only a 3 month lease to dip our toes into Ireland, we are hopeful of this nice gelding’s first run on the All Weather at Dundalk in mid/late Jan. Pat Murphy sent us some pictures and videos of Sweetasteoflove working out on his gallops and in the yard which you can see below:
Micky Hammond Horse Update
Furax is a horse that is really generating a lot of buzz within the club. His French form and prize money earn’t whilst in France give everyone in the club great feel that he will take to the British jumping game really well. Members were lucky enough to see him for a yard visit before the latest National Lockdown in England. It’s also great to have another Northern based trainer in the Ursa ranks in Micky Hammond. Furax should be running before the month of January is out. Furax can be seen having a trot in the snow last week:
Racing Updates
Highway One
Highway One ran in the 3:28 Download The Free At The Races App Handicap Hurdle at Plumpton on 3rd January. Once again Highway had the champion jockey Richard Johnson on board for this run similar to his last hurdles run in 2020 at Fontwell. This time Highway One could not replicate his success on the All Weather at Lingfield just before Christmas and could only finish a distant 10th of 13 runners. See Richard Johnsons thoughts on the race below:
Para Queen
Para Queen was last seen at Ludlow at the beginning of December finishing back in the field in a hurdle race with Daryl Jacob aboard. This run came around the time Mark had discovered there was a bug in the yard that caused his horses to miss racing for the majority of December. The bug has now passed so we felt a pipe opener on the all weather at Southwell would do Para Queen well until we restart her hurdles campaign. Para Queen finished 5th of 7 runners and 23 Lengths behind the winner at Southwell in the Play 4 To Score At Betway Handicap on 8th January. But it was not all negative as the club received a big shout out on the “Get In” show courtesy of Luke Harvey on Sky Sports Racing. See jockey Marco Ghiani’s post race thoughts here:
Kayarnah
Kayarnah is a horse with a great future in the jumping game having won a bumper in July 2020 and finishing in the places on both her runs in the world famous Battenberg silks. Her last run for the club under her current lease was in the 12:25 Download The MansionBet App Maiden Hurdle (GBB Race) at Wincanton on 9th January. She only finished 6th but the ground got the better of her and she is likely to improve immensely and come on well for a Spring NH campaign. She has been a great horse to be associated with and hopefully the first of many horses with George Baker. Rex Dingle gives his thoughts post race below:
Future Horses & Runners
January is going to be a busy month for the club with the return to training of the majority of our flat horses with Mark Walford. We are also going to see races in the next few weeks and at the end of Jan for Event of Sivola, Mizen Master, Let’s Go Lucky and Para Queen. Please keep an eye on our entries page for more details on our future runners.
As for our other horses across our network of trainers, we can expect to see Sweetasteoflove and Furax running races in January.
The club will also be spending time cementing a permanent horse with a Southern trainer and to run at Southern tracks in January.
Final Word
We still can offer exciting and numerous packages and opportunities for potential new members, please contact us either using the “Contact Us” details on our website or via our social media channels. Ursa Major Racing Club is more than just an affordable opportunity to be involved in horse ownership, we have a fantastic social side to the club which has kept current members engaged and feel like they are part of a movement. At present this is done via our online communication channels on the Telegram App but when we move into better times with less restrictions we will be holding a number of social events to make up for times lost in 2020 and celebrate our successes.
We want to wish everyone all the best in 2021, please stay safe, be kind and look after yourselves and your loved ones as best you can.