Weekly Update 08.02.2021
Wow! What a week it has been for URSA Major Racing. We have a cram packed update for you this week. Some of the new items will be highlights of other news articles and updates we have published on the website, but there are also so many other things to update on, it’s a genuinely exciting time for Ursa Major Racing. A great time to be involved with the club and with Spring around the corner, there is so much more to come as well!
Mark Walford Horses Update
The weather may have played havoc with the recent racing fixtures being abandoned but it is not stopped all the hard work and effort Mark and the team put into getting all their horses, including URSA horses fit, prepared and ready for their respective campaigns. We can bring you some video updates from Mark of; Mehraki Star and Clifftop Heaven and we can also see some schooling Jamie Hamilton is giving Event Of Sivola ahead of his run at Catterick on 7th Feb. We also have some exciting news of a new partnership arrangement with Mark as well to tell you about later in the article!
Our Racing Manager Craig Talbot has not been able to visit the yard due to the recent severe weather the whole UK has experienced with Storm Darcy, however as soon as the weather improves he will visit the yard and we hope to provide video updates of all the URSA Major horses with Mark.
Pat Murphy Update
We had some sad news that Sweettasteoflove suffered a fracture last week. This was incredibly sad news as we had not had the opportunity to see this lovely horse in action, however the horse has survived and will live to see another day. Animal Welfare is the top priority for our club, we care more about our horses above anything else, a value all of our trainers share. We are just glad the long term future is still bright.
The news above left our Irish members without a horse to call their own, but that was not to be for long as you will read further down in this article.
Micky Hammond Horse Update
Furax did indeed run on Friday 5th January to make his UK and URSA debut, more to report on this in the Racing Updates section. But we continue to receive wonderful pictures and videos of Furax during his sessions and down time in the Micky Hammond yard. We have fallen in love with this horse as he is such a character! We can share some of the wonderful images and videos we received this week below.
Furax has come down 4lbs on his Chase & Hurdle mark to 123 after his debut appearance at Catterick. Members felt his OR could have come down a little bit more, but the handicapper is taking no chances at all. This is not unusual for the BHA to take a cautious approach to French imports, we experienced the same initially with Event of Sivola.
Stephen Hanlon Horse Update
Mizen Master is doing great at Stephen’s yard and the communication from Stephen has been first class. Mizen has got an entry for a race at Southwell there is more information about in our future races section.
Introducing Adam West!
We are pleased to announce that we have a new partnership in place with Adam West based in Espom, Surrey. Adam is a trainer we have been really keen to work with for quite some time and it was a case of finding the right horse to send to him. You can read more about Adam in our Trainers Section of the site And news of the horse Adam will get below….
Racing Updates
The club had 2 debuts and a winner last week! We saw the debuts of Lets Go Lucky & Furax for the club and also Event Of Sivola winning his first race for the club at Musselburgh at 6/1. Read more about Furax here and EOS’s win here
Lets Go Lucky made her long awaited debut for the club on 1st February in the Bombardier British-Hopped Amber Beer Handicap (Class 5) (0-70, 4yo+) (7f36yds) 7f at Wolverhampton Racecourse. Club legend Dougie Costello took the ride and although she only finished 8th of 9 runners, members were thrilled to see her debut after she had suffered some injury setbacks in 2020. She needed the run in this race to blow the cobwebs off and begin a decent all weather campaign over the next few months. Below is Mark’s and Dougies thoughts Pre & Post Race:
Future Runners
The weather is continuing to cause a problem for racing with meetings facing an uncertain week ahead due to the Snow and freezing temperatures. However we do have 2 entries for the week ahead.
Lets Go Lucky will return to Wolverhampton on Saturday 13th February over 7f with Phil Dennis taking the ride & Mizen Master will make his debut for Stephen Hanlon at Southwell on Sunday 14th February over 1m4f with Luke Morris on board. It’s really great to have runners even in these tricky conditions at present!
Two New Horses!
You can read more about our new recruits in the main article here but both we can share some additional photos and videos of Elland Road Boy who is our first horse with Adam West. He has settled in wonderfully well and members will have a lot of fun with him. World Title who will become our new horse in Ireland and going to Pat Murphy is still in quarantine as per the rules and regulations and will be off to Pat Murphy’s yard in the very near future.
