Category: News

Another Milestone Achieved! Blackmore Farm hit a huge milestone when Vol Royale came home in front meaning we reached over £100,000 in prize money. For some yards, this is achieved very easily but for a small yard with only 12 licensed boxes, it is a great testament to everyone’s hard work and what a great season we are enjoying. It was lovely to see Vol Royale back to winning ways after a disappointing run at Chepstow. Things just did not go our way on his handicap debut so it was back to Hereford where we knew he liked it and he won by 1 ¼ lengths. Harry Cobden gave him a very uncomplicated ride and it is great for Kayley Woollacott Racing II to enjoy their third win with him.    El Capitaine made his chase debut at Newbury two days later and although looking a little flat footed turning in, he stormed home from the back of the last and won very comfortably. Ben Jones gave him a great ride and it was lovely for owner Ivan Thompson! We enjoyed a Sausage Shed Breakfast this morning which is always well received by the staff. Our Dylan made the step up to 3 miles at Wincanton under Josh on Monday 24th and although being the outsider of the field, Josh was never in doubt and gave him a cracking ride to win by ½ length. He has turned into a wonderful horse for 4Racing Owners Club and this is the sixth win they have enjoyed with him!   Yesterday, we had the Behind The Scenes Raceday at Taunton where we had the Kayley Woollacott Racing Syndicates & Blackmore Racing Club sponsored race which was a great initiative. It was won by Ede’iffs Lad, for Kathy Turner and was ridden by Darren Andrews. Darren is a regular work rider here at Blackmore Farm so it was great to see him win the feature race. We had Knock Off Soxs run in the 2m3f race where he finished 4th beaten 10 lengths.    The Pointers have continued to run well. Hearts Corner won the West Country Champion Chase at Buckfastleigh for Becky Roach. Champagne Blue made his debut for Blackmore Racing Club and finished 2nd in the Maiden. He will be back out again soon. We took four runners to Kilworthy and came away with two winners and two seconds. Dance Ifyoucan won the Maiden giving Blackmore Racing Club their first winner of the season. We purchased the horse when we went over to Ireland and saw him finish 2nd in the Maiden at Ballycrystal. We really liked him and a week later, he was with us at Blackmore Farm! Make Idaho Great took the Restricted for John and Sonia Gardener in great fashion after only winning his Maiden two weeks earlier at Charlton Horethorne.    We have continued to go up to Chard Equestrian with Jabeena Maslin, who has been great with our babies, teaching them various jumping techniques. It is great to have seen a glimmer of Spring in the past two weeks and it is nice to wave goodbye to the dreadful wet winter. We could do with a drop of rain to keep the ground in good conditions for a little while longer however!

Super Six Weekend! We are nearly through the first half of March and what a busy month it has been already! It is so nice to see the sun and hopefully the Point to Point season will be without any interruptions going forward.    We took four Maidens to Badbury Rings at the end of February, with Docket Man coming home in front giving The Oaks Partnership their first winner. He was purchased privately in January having ran twice and is learning all the time. He nearly got taken out by a faller but after an incredible recovery from Josh, the partnership remained intact and he went on to win comfortably! Electric City made his debut for us and his newly formed syndicate, Kayley Woollacott Racing V. He ran very well to finish 2nd behind a smart 4yo of Will Biddicks. Electric City backed this up by winning the GB Pointing Bonus at Didmarton, providing us with the first leg of our treble at the meeting! Didmarton turned out to be a successful day with Beacon Edge taking the Mixed Open for John and Floss Symes. Hannah rode her first winner of the season aboard Getaway Drumlee to win the PPORA Club Members Conditions (Level 3) for Susan Morgan and Sharon Rushton.    Our good weekend continued into Sunday, at Charlton Horethorne, with another treble which made it 6 winners across the weekend from 9 runners. Micky Haller made his debut in the GB Pointing Bonus and albeit showing greenness, ran with a huge amount of credit to win going away. He has since gone through the ring at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale and sold to Ryan Mahon and Dan Skelton for £75,000 and also qualifies for the £25,000 bonus being British bred. John and Sonia Gardener have another nice prospect in Make Idaho Great, who was a recent purchase out of the Irish Point to Point field. He’s been showing all the right signs at home and won the 3m Maiden on his first start for us. Al Gasparo remains unbeaten since we purchased him last summer and he won giving John and Floss Symes two Mixed Open winners across the weekend!    Woodstock Octo reappeared two weeks after his Restricted win and headed back to Larkhill under a penalty where he won easily. He is another very exciting horse for the future!   Kayley has been enjoying her best National Hunt season and we are now up to 13 winners, which for a small string, is great! Diamatiste and Stratton Oakmont went to Ascot where Diamatiste lapped up the atmosphere to run a huge race and finish 2nd! Stratton Oakmont got stuck in traffic turning for home but still ran well. It seemed a step in the right direction after his disappointing run on the previous occasion. Sparkling Duke has definitely been one of our talking horses of the season and he headed back to his beloved Ffos Las on the 1st March. This was his third run at the track, which he clearly enjoys and showed great battling attributes to win by ½ length. He is now 3 from 4 under rules for us and 1 from 1 in Points. He has risen in the weights but hopefully there is still more enjoyment to be had with him!    Onto this weekend, we have runners at Cothelstone and Buckfastleigh!

Lau And Shaz does it again! We continue to battle against the weather and the South West has taken a big hit with the loss of multiple meetings in both January and February. We lost Chipley, Milborne St Andrew and Buckfastleigh, which have all been great courses for ourselves. Larkhill saw a tremendous amount of runners at their Royal Artillery meeting, resulting in splits of both the Restricted and Maiden.   With the loss of Chipley, we rerouted Woodstock Octo to Larkhill. Through no fault of his own, he hadn’t ran since the opening meeting of the season at Dunsmore. He is still a very raw individual and it was always agreed that we would take our time with him this season. The Restricted was split on the day and he was drawn in the second division. He was left clear from two out and still displayed some greenness when coming to the last but popped over it with plenty left in the tank and drew away to win by 9 lengths for John and Sonia Gardener. We have always been a huge fan of this horse since he was purchased at Goffs UK in May last year and still has a lot to give. He won the GB Pointing Bonus at Dunsmore and there could be the option to switch him under rules in the future to try and win the £15,000 Bonus that is on offer for him!   We had a busy day at Hereford on the 11th February with three runners. Lau And Shaz got the ball rolling when coming home in front under a penalty in the Novices’ Hurdle. A loose horse caused mayhem throughout the race and on multiple occasions looked as if she was going to be taken out. She was very genuine and came home in front by 1 ¼ lengths when always doing enough under Harry Cobden for owner Simon Rushworth. Lydeard Girl made her handicap debut and showed plenty of promise when getting up for 2nd near to the line. She is a homebred for the House Family Partnership and will be very rewarding for them when she gets her head in front. Lucky Bere went off favorite in the last and was just denied by a short head. He is giving Ben Marsh plenty of fun and seems to be enjoying the ground while it keeps raining.    With the loss of multiple days schooling and the Chaddesley Schooling Trials, we took a bunch of horses to Larkhill to gallop. This was very beneficial for them all and it is always good to gauge where they are at both mentally and physically.    Hopefully with Spring just around the corner, we will see a change in the weather and be able to get the horses out running! We have plenty ready to roll – we just need some racing to be on!!

100 for Josh, 50 for Kayley! Another great week has seen two great milestones achieved from the team at Blackmore Farm. A good weekend at Charing saw Al Gasparo come home in front in the Men’s Open for John and Floss Symes. He won on his debut at Wadebridge impressively and it was great to see him battling to the line at Charing where he won by a short head. Noble Blue brought up a double on the day for Friends Of Sylvie when winning the PPORA Club Members Conditions (Level 3) which saw him record his 3rd win of the season and his 6th win for us from 7 runs. Noble Blue’s win saw Josh train his 100th winner which is a huge achievement in only his fifth season training. We have had 31 runners this season with 23 finishing in the top 3 which is a credit to the team! Holiday Fund and Impakt St Georges also headed to Charing and finished 3rd and 4th respectively in their races.    Stellar Stream and Sparkling Duke made the trip to Ffos Las last week to contest the 3m handicap hurdle. Stellar Stream has been a head scratcher, so we decided to drop him back to hurdles which seemed to be more to his taste. Sparkling Duke had to put a bad run behind him when finishing tailed off at Exeter but he seems to enjoy the Welsh air and romped home under Ben Jones, making it 3 wins from 4 runs, since we purchased him privately from Joe Tizzard. He has been incredible for his syndicate, Kayley Woollacott Racing III, run by Martin Higgs. Stellar Stream finished 10 lengths behind him in 3rd which was a pleasing step in the right direction for him. Our Dylan notched up his fifth win for us when winning under Rian Corcoran at Taunton for 4Racing Owners Club which was Kayley’s 50th winner under rules. Another great milestone to achieve and we all celebrated with bacon and egg rolls the following morning with Prosecco!    Our youngsters have been up to Chard Equestrian for a jump with Jabeena Maslin, which we find hugely beneficial for them to leave the farm and see a different venue. It is another step in the right direction for them to get to the track and make them learn where to put their feet. We were due to take a couple to Chaddesley for schooling races, which unfortunately was postponed and we are still hoping Chipley will arrange a schooling morning for us all to use!    We hold entries at Higham, Larkhill, Exeter and Ffos Las over the weekend and into next week. Fingers crossed it stops raining!!!

New Year, Great Start! The Christmas period has been and gone and everything at Blackmore Farm is back in full swing after a quieter time. Our youngsters have had a couple of weeks off and are back in work cantering away in preparation to head to Chipley Park for a school and gallop on the Monday after racing. With them all now turning 4, we can hopefully start to plot the next few months with a couple of them and look forward to them getting on the track.    Boxing Day gave us a nice Christmas present with Lau And Shaz winning on her first start for us and owner Simon Rushworth. She had been privately purchased through JD Moore out of Gavin Cromwell’s and had some good bumper form behind her. She slotted into our system very well and it was great to see her come home in front with Josh on board. El Capitaine ran in the Pertemps Qualifier under Brendan Powell and finished a very pleasing 3rd beaten 7 ¼ lengths. Emilie Turner took both runners racing and came away with two Best Turned Outs which is great! Knock Off Soxs ran under a penalty at Taunton on the 30th December and found one too good for him and had to settle for 2nd under Harry Cobden. This was still a very pleasing run and he has already given Tom and Sally Dalley of Stables Business Park Ltd a lot of fun! The second week of January was busy with runners. Our Dylan stayed on well in heavy conditions at Ffos Las to finish 3rd under James Bowen. Diamatiste does not know how to run a bad race and finished 2nd at Exeter under Rian Corcoran by 1 length. Vol Royale reappeared at Hereford on Monday under a penalty and hit the headlines when beating a fancied JP McManus horse after it was announced Harry would be the new retained rider in the famous green and gold! He has already achieved so much for Martin Higgs and Kayley Woollacott Racing II and hopefully still has plenty more to give. We were delighted to see Lucky Bere get his head in front in a competitive handicap at Wincanton giving owner Ben Marsh his first winner! Again, ridden by Harry Cobden who has gained a great strike rate for Blackmore Farm.   On Sunday 11th January we took seven runners to Wadebridge! We hit the cross bar several times but it is great to see all the horses run well still. The last fence was taken out due to wet ground and this did change the complexion of several races. The day started off with Clondaw Drake just getting touched off into 2nd in the Conditions. Holiday Fund and Getaway Drumlee ran in the Novice Riders to repeat the form back at the previous meeting in finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.  Beacon Edge won the Mixed Open for John and Floss Symes on his first start for us having been purchased at Tattersalls HIT Sale in May. Millyellen was again the bridesmaid finishing 2nd in the Maiden when just getting in a bit close to the last fence. Impakt St Georges finished the day off with a 3rd in the Restricted which we were very pleased about considering he was carrying a penalty!    We look forward to this weekend with entries at Larkhill and Lau And Shaz holds an entry at Windsor for the Winter Millions Weekend.    Beacon Edge taken by Tim Holt Lau and Shaz winning at Wincanton Best Turned Out winner El Capitaine