Category: News

Another Busy Summer! August soon crept around and the majority of the horses are back into the swing of the busy Blackmore routine. We have been quiet on the racing front with only Ghost Jury in over the summer to run. She finished a pleasing 2nd when running on well at Newton Abbot under Sean Bowen. Hopefully she can build on this for her next run in a few weeks. 4Racing has purchased a new horse called Mrs Biddle. She is likely to make her debut for us soon and fingers crossed she can give the Club plenty of fun!   The team headed to the National Championships at Cheltenham Racecourse at the back end of June where Josh picked up the Leading Trainer Award. Lauren was voted Stable Employee Of The Year, which was a great achievement and John and Sonia Gardener were National Leading Owners after an incredible season. A few weeks later we went to Devon and Cornwall Awards at Sandy Park where we won Leading Yard. Josh won Leading Male Jockey and Hannah was Leading Novice Lady. John and Sonia also picked up Leading Local Owner and Beacon Edge collected Leading Veteran Horse. Plenty of the team came to celebrate which is a nice way to round off another great season!   It has been another busy summer with the Store sales and we have a very exciting bunch of young horses to hopefully run through the Spring. We have also spent a lot of time purchasing horses that have run either on the track or in Irish Points and could not be more excited about the team of horses we have for this season! The Stores have all been very good to break in over the summer. They spent plenty of time long reining before going on various hacks and spent a couple days going up the gallop. They all loose schooled very well over the barrels and hurdles before going out on their mini summer break.   The yard has been a hive of activity with pressure washing, painting and creosoting over the past few weeks. We also had Equine Bio Genie in to disinfect the whole yard before the horses came back in. It will not be long before our Owners Day but there is plenty to be done in between now and then. We are delighted to welcome Steph back into the yard this season. She is very keen to push her Lalors Waterproof business forward so has taken a step back from TopSpec in order to allow her time to focus on doing this and will be mucking out to pay her mortgage in between running her business!!   With the first Point to Point on the 1st November, it is now full steam ahead to get back going with some of the National Hunt horses likely to make their seasonal debuts beforehand.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! On Monday 25th May, Josh and the team were crowned Foran National Leading Yard for the third consecutive year! A huge achievement from the team sending out 46 winners, operating at a 43% strike rate. We had 106 runners with 78 of them finishing in the top three!  We enjoyed one four timer, four trebles, one across the card treble and seven doubles.   Season highlights include Woodstock Octo winning all six of his starts under three different jockeys. Make Idaho Great also remains unbeaten since joining us, taking all four of his races. Both horses are owned by our longtime standing owners, John & Sonia Gardener, who won the Isuzu Leading Owner. Cherry Lane, Holiday Fund and Clondaw Drake also helped them to 14 winners for the season.    Micky Haller was another highlight, winning the GB Pointing Bonus Maiden at Charlton Horethorne on debut and went to Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale, where he was sold and will be trained by champion trainer, Dan Skelton, next season. We also won GB Pointing Bonus races with Electric City and Woodstock Octo, who both will have a go at winning the bonus under rules next season.    Our season rounded off with a good weekend at Peper Harrow and Edgcote. Beacon Edge won the Mixed Open after making the long journey East and Al Gasparo took the Open at Edgcote the following day, giving John & Floss Symes their best season as owners. Talimar Pearl was partnered by Lucas Murphy to take the PPORA Final at Edgcote. Lucas is a very exciting young jockey who has enjoyed a great first season in the saddle. He has won on three of his four rides for us.    We cannot thank our staff enough for all the hard work they have put in all season and they really deserve all the success we have had! Our owners have been incredible and so supportive. Without them, we would have no horses to train so we are so grateful for them in trusting us! To all our family and friends for supporting us and helping out during the season, it makes our lives a lot easier knowing we have a great team behind us!   Kayley and Lauren have already been busy purchasing next year’s team. They had a busy time at Goffs UK at Doncaster and will be making various trips to Ireland over the coming months. It is now time to start the big summer clean as all the horses head out on their holidays. The staff have started having their well earned breaks and the yard will start to be pressure washed and painted ready for the 2026/27 season!!

43 winners for the season! As the National Point to Point season begins to draw to a close, we hit 43 winners at Cothelstone on Wednesday, which equalled our best seasonal tally that we achieved last season. Young Lucas Murphy was in the saddle aboard Clondaw Drake, for John & Sonia Gardener. They won the Conditions (Level 1) for Novice Riders by ¾ of a length extending John & Sonia’s lead in the Isuzu Leading Owner Championship to 14 winners.    We enjoyed a treble at the second Flete Park meeting with Ghost Jury, Hearts Corner and Cherry Lane. It was lovely to see Ghost Jury get her head in front for 4Racing Owners Club. She has not had the most successful time under rules, so it was good to see her back in Point to Points and in the winners enclosure! Hearts Corner made easy work of the Ladies Open under Ellie Callwood and Caspers Court finished 3rd in the same race. The final race of the day was won by Cherry Lane, owned by John & Sonia Gardener. She came to us last August after we purchased her privately from her breeder. She has learnt a lot in a short space of time having been pretty much untouched when she arrived. A big credit goes to Hannah and Alyce, who have both worked very hard with her – she is very much a chestnut mare!   Bank Holiday saw Penarthur make his debut at Eyton-on-Severn in the GB Pointing Bonus Maiden. He finished 2nd for Bear Pen Racing and looks a lovely prospect for next season. Also on the same day, Beacon Edge won his third Open of the season for John & Floss Symes at Vauterhill. The following weekend we were at Holnicote and Upcott Cross with nine runners across the weekend. Diamonds And Denim won the Maiden easily for the Flap & Flip Club under Josh and is now for sale. Both Ghost Jury and Getaway Drumlee finished 2nd in their races respectively and lost nothing in defeat. Upcott Cross saw Woodstock Octo win his sixth race of the season, this time taking the Novice Riders under Lucas Murphy and Make Idaho Great won the Intermediate. Crystal De France made a pleasing debut for Blackmore Racing Club to finish 2nd and we will look to go again at Upcott’s second meeting with him. Dance Ifyoucan unfortunately fell four from home on his last run of the season, which is a shame, but he’s in one piece and will be an exciting horse for Kayley Woollacott Racing VI for next season.    We have a good bunch of horses out on their summer holidays and it is lovely to see them wind down and enjoy sunbathing. We have started clearing stables out ready for pressure washing, painting and creosoting!    We have two competitive weekends left of the Point to Point season before we can properly start winding down and a busy week next week with Goffs Store and Horses In Training Sales at Doncaster!

The Magic 50! It has always been a target to better our previous seasons but a milestone that we have always wanted to achieve is 50 winners across both yards. Last weekend, we achieved this and the magic 50, soon became 52!    Both Woodstock Octo and Al Gasparo extended their unbeaten tally when winning their respective races at Dunsmore on the 12th April. Woodstock Octo took his fifth race of the season when coming home in front in the Intermediate under a penalty for John and Sonia Gardener. Al Gasparo won his fourth race this season when taking the Mixed Open by 2 ¾ lengths under a 7lb penalty for John and Floss Symes. Dart Of Ginger made a pleasing debut for Jeremy Barber in the Mares Maiden and will definitely improve for the experience.    Onto last weekend, Make Idaho Great was another to remain unbeaten when coming home in front in his Restricted under a penalty at Flete Park. We split across the country on Sunday and headed to both Cotley and Lower Machen. Clondaw Drake was the 50th winner to be sent out of Blackmore Farm this season, when he took the Conditions Level 2 under Darren Andrews for  John and Sonia Gardener at Lower Machen. He has had a frustrating season due to no fault of his own so it was great to see him back in the winners enclosure. This gave John and Sonia Gardener another winner and put them two wins in front for the National Leading Owner Championship. 50 soon became 51 when Talimar Pearl won the Members Race at Cotley giving David Churches a winner under Josh.  Arty Dodger ran a very pleasing race at Lower Machen in the Flat Race and it was great to see him show plenty of promise being a homebred of his owner, Becky Roach.    The same weekend, Knock Off Soxs and Our Dylan made the long journey to Bangor On Dee for the last runs of their season. Both ran great races to finish 4th and 3rd and will now enjoy their well deserved summer holidays! The National Hunt horses are really winding down now with only a couple left in to run. Noble Blue finally got the win he deserved at Taunton on Wednesday evening. He has been unlucky on his starts over hurdles this season having bumped into a couple well handicapped horses and clipped heels when another runner crossed into his path and annoyingly left Josh no option but to come out the side door. Noble Blue has been a great horse since joining us last season and it’s wonderful to add a hurdle win to his CV for owners Friends Of Sylvie.    Reaching the 50 winner mark for the season is a huge achievement. Our National Hunt season has exceeded everyone’s expectations this year and to end it with 17 winners is a huge achievement from our small yard. We finished on a 20% win and 46% placed strike rate with just under £130,000 prize money. It was a bitter pill to swallow to only have five National Hunt winners last season, but we were very confident going into the 2025/26 season with the best team of horses we have had!    We currently sit on 35 winners heading into the last five competitive weekends of Pointing. Our best season is 43 winners, so fingers crossed we can reach another seasonal best over the coming weeks!

Five Winners Over Easter Weekend! We are very lucky to say that the horses continue to be in great form and the winners keep on coming! We have had plenty of luck at Trebudannon over the past few seasons and this has also been enjoyed this year. Their first meeting was held on the 29th March where we sent four runners down. We enjoyed a double with Important Notice taking the Mixed Open and Woodstock Octo won the Intermediate, both under Darren Andrews. Josh was otherwise engaged at Maisemore but it was great for Darren to step in and help him achieve his 5 winners on the day! Tilly had her second ride aboard Caspers Court and with their debut run not going quite to plan at Wadebridge, it was lovely to see them have a clear round and finish 4th! Unfortunately, Getaway Drumlee pulled up under Hannah. Nothing came to light so we will draw a line through this and see him out bouncing again soon!   The Easter weekend started off the perfect way with two runners and two winners at Cherrybrook on Saturday. Hannah gave Talimar Pearl a beautiful ride to come home in front in the Conditions Level 3 for David Churches. This was Talimar’s first win of the season and he truly deserved it. He gives his all every time he runs and is a complete pleasure to have in the yard. Our second winner of the day came from Holiday Fund with Josh on board. Holiday has been a little frustrating this season, but it was great to see him produce the goods here. He is a very versatile horse and has run on all different types of ground but he does appreciate the sun on his back so hopefully there is more to come from him this season.    Onto Easter Monday and back to Trebudannon. We took six runners down and came away with 3 winners. Important Notice returned back to the track, this time with Hannah in the saddle. He ran in the Ladies Open alongside Caspers Court and Tilly. Hannah and Important Notice won for Tom and Sally Dalley and Tilly had another safe round under her belt! We were delighted to see Seventeenothree finish 2nd in the Maiden and Cherry Lane finished behind her in 4th. Hearts Corner backed up his win in the Westcountry Champion Chase by winning the Cornish National for Becky Roach over the extended trip of 3m4f. He won by an impressive 20 lengths and he remains unbeaten this season. Champagne Blue made his second appearance for us in the 3 mile Maiden and despite a blunder at the last which caused Josh’s saddle to slip and nearly unseat, the partnership stayed intact and he won comfortably. This was a great result and gave Blackmore Racing Club their second winner of the season!     Taunton on the 9th was a day of mixed fortunes! Lau And Shaz ran with huge credit against a horse that cost £360,000. She has been a brilliant horse this season and definitely has an exciting career in the future over fences. Noble Blue was so unlucky to be hampered by a horse that bumped the rail and therefore ended up clipping heels and unshipping Josh. Both are fine and will be back to fight another day!