ALEX DUNN RACING WEEKLY REPORT (20th December – 2nd January)

Introduction

Firstly, I hope everyone was able to have a wonderful Christmas and a wild new years’ celebration. With regards to the yard it has been a tough fortnight, as is the norm over this Christmas period, made worse by the bug that has swept through myself and the staff but has now thankfully passed. The staff Christmas party was a success and a great evening was had by all in the Indian and zinc. Runners have been plentiful and we have just received arrival of our new exerciser.

Round Up of runners

There was a whole bunch of horses making their return to the track after long absences including: Jupiter, Ramblow, Sigrid Nansen, Shinghari, Geni Johnson, Tsundoku and Diligent. It is great to have them all back in the yard and I look forward to bringing them on for the season ahead.

Diamond Reflection ran a great race at Wolverhampton to finish a very hard done third. He travelled sweetly in the second row the whole way, but the horse in front was tiring, resulting in him being trapped around the final bend and so had to watch others go whilst he was unable to get out. That said he came home safe and maybe next time with a kinder route through will bring home the goods.

Cry Wolf was switched back to 2 miles and it looked as if it would be winner number 4 coming home, but he just didn’t quite have the toe of the others and was held to 4th place. He finishes the season as the yards leading flat horse with just over £24,000 in prizemoney and has been a fantastic addition.

Swift Crusador was trying to make it 2/2 at Newbury, but ultimately the quick ground proved to be too much. He jumped off well but soon after the quick ground took its effect. He still finished 3rd in a good race and with a bit of luck some illusive rain may just give him the edge over the field again.

Thahab Ifraj and Minella Voucher were both placed at Taunton on the 30th, both running pleasing races. Thahab acts best on a slightly quicker surface and in parts the track just worked against him. I was delighted with his attitude to stay on at the end with him finishing well and this bodes well for some further improvement. Minella Voucher also stayed on well at the end, he is a lovely moving animal and a solid chasing career is very attainable off his current performances.

Polo the Mumm was unable to follow up upon his Wincanton success but sill jumped well. His jumping is eye-catching, though at Fakenham it is very hard to overtake making the jumping more critical than ever to progress. He has improved so much over the last couple of months and so hopefully we can continue this.

2018 Flat Review

Earnings - £117,010

Wins – 15

Top 4 finishes – 60/197 (30.46%)

With the New Year it brings the curtains down on a recorded breaking flat season for Alex Dunn Racing. 2018 was our first weighted assault of the flat scene and the amount we learnt really began to show as the year progressed. We finished 137th in the trainers standings in our real debut season with 15 wins and £117,010 in prizemoney.

With the addition of the 50 new stables I hope to break into the top 100 trainers for 2019 whilst at the same time maintaining our presence in the jumps sphere. Rossa Ryan has been a jockey we have been delighted to link up with this year, giving some superb rides to our horses, Gang Warfare at Chepstow has to be the pick of the bunch.

Cry Wolf, De Little Engine and French Mix all won 3 a piece, with Diamond Reflection being our cheapest winner when brought for £600. With our impressive form on the All Weather, the erection of a night racing facility at Southwell is hugely exciting for us and something to look forward to in February.

News in Racing

It was the boys who triumphed at Olympia in the annual jockey challenge, this time though being the boys Vs the girls. This was not without incident with a major tack malfunction for Harry Skelton leading to some entertaining scenes. This provided for great entertainment for us and terrific support for the IJF.

Most recently John my younger brother, received brilliant support from Oaksey house over the autumn and could not speak highly enough of them. The IJF is full of wonderful people and any help to keep this organisation going cannot be wasted.

Statistical Summary

Jumps 18/19

Earnings - £72,776

Wins - 7

Top 4 finishes – 38/103 (36.89%)

Flat 19

Earnings - £300

Wins – 0

Top 4 finishes – 0/1 (0%)

Total 2019

            Earnings - £728

            Wins - 0

            Top 4 finishes – 0/2 (0%)

Swift Crusader at Newbury

Alex Dunn Racing Weekly Report (13th - 19th December)

Introduction

A big effort paid off at Taunton, with a winner and a narrow second as well as another winner later in the week at Southwell. This week there is the upcoming Christmas break with racing recommencing Boxing Day, therefore will we will have a big flat entry at Wolverhampton on the 26th and 27th as well as some jumps entries.

Round up of runners

We only ran at one days jump racing, with 6 runners at Taunton. Champagneforoscar was the first of the 6, but wasn’t able to complete. Envole Toi was next, and took advantage of his opponents’ lack of experience making all and doing enough in the middle of the race to put too big a gap between himself and a fast closing field. This was Envole Toi’s third race for us, having run from the front on his debut and just not having the legs at the end. Whilst on his second run he was held up over a slightly longer trip, not enjoying the experience, making the return to his debut tactics a success. There were a further three runners in a handicap hurdle being, Truckers Tangle, Cool Macavity and Maraakib. Maraakib, finished down the field with Cool Macavity finishing midfield. Truckers Tangle on the other hand after 401 days off, ran a storming race to finish a much unexpected second. He was kept wide throughout and turning in looked ominous, however the winner had a little more in the tank and used this to his advantage. This was a great return for trucker and bodes well for the future. Getadollar was the last of the six and looked to be going well enough for most of the race, however coming to the home straight she began to weaken and finished a distant 6th, she will now be turned out to grass to come back in later in the spring.

De Little Engine made his return at Kempton, after a little break, running prominently for most of the race and only just tiring towards the end. He may make a return to Wolverhampton after Christmas. Speaking of Wolverhampton, French Mix visited the race course on Monday running a strong race to finish 5th. She drew an unfavourable draw, and broke steadily having to go wide round the final bend ultimately costing her ground to finish an extremely narrow fifth.

Azari, the last runner of the weak made it a winning end at Southwell on the flat. He broke slowly, yet Rossa Ryan made sure he got to the front and kept him there throughout getting twice headed at the end to hang on by a neck. It has taken a long time to get to grips with Azari, who has come down the weights and managed to take advantage of this mark and can hopefully follow up again upon this success.

News in racing

Southwell racecourse has been in the midst of its latest project, erecting night lighting for evening races. It was planned for the first of these new fixtures to commence in January, however this has been postponed a month with more delays a possibility, but by no means certain.

Last of all is to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Statistical Summary

Jumps 18/19

• Earnings - £69,532
• Wins - 7
• Top 4 finishes – 34/95 (35.79%)

Flat 18

• Earnings - £115,179
• Wins – 15
• Top 4 finishes – 58/185 (31.35%)

Azari at Southwell  

Alex Dunn Racing Weekly Report (13th - 19th December)

Introduction

A big effort paid off at Taunton, with a winner and a narrow second as well as another winner later in the week at Southwell. This week there is the upcoming Christmas break with racing recommencing Boxing Day, therefore will we will have a big flat entry at Wolverhampton on the 26th and 27th as well as some jumps entries.

Round up of runners

We only ran at one days jump racing, with 6 runners at Taunton. Champagneforoscar was the first of the 6, but wasn’t able to complete. Envole Toi was next, and took advantage of his opponents’ lack of experience making all and doing enough in the middle of the race to put too big a gap between himself and a fast closing field. This was Envole Toi’s third race for us, having run from the front on his debut and just not having the legs at the end. Whilst on his second run he was held up over a slightly longer trip, not enjoying the experience, making the return to his debut tactics a success. There were a further three runners in a handicap hurdle being, Truckers Tangle, Cool Macavity and Maraakib. Maraakib, finished down the field with Cool Macavity finishing midfield. Truckers Tangle on the other hand after 401 days off, ran a storming race to finish a much unexpected second. He was kept wide throughout and turning in looked ominous, however the winner had a little more in the tank and used this to his advantage. This was a great return for trucker and bodes well for the future. Getadollar was the last of the six and looked to be going well enough for most of the race, however coming to the home straight she began to weaken and finished a distant 6th, she will now be turned out to grass to come back in later in the spring.

De Little Engine made his return at Kempton, after a little break, running prominently for most of the race and only just tiring towards the end. He may make a return to Wolverhampton after Christmas. Speaking of Wolverhampton, French Mix visited the race course on Monday running a strong race to finish 5th. She drew an unfavourable draw, and broke steadily having to go wide round the final bend ultimately costing her ground to finish an extremely narrow fifth.

Azari, the last runner of the weak made it a winning end at Southwell on the flat. He broke slowly, yet Rossa Ryan made sure he got to the front and kept him there throughout getting twice headed at the end to hang on by a neck. It has taken a long time to get to grips with Azari, who has come down the weights and managed to take advantage of this mark and can hopefully follow up again upon this success.

News in racing

Southwell racecourse has been in the midst of its latest project, erecting night lighting for evening races. It was planned for the first of these new fixtures to commence in January, however this has been postponed a month with more delays a possibility, but by no means certain.

Last of all is to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Statistical Summary

Jumps 18/19

• Earnings - £69,532
• Wins - 7
• Top 4 finishes – 34/95 (35.79%)

Flat 18

• Earnings - £115,179
• Wins – 15
• Top 4 finishes – 58/185 (31.35%)

Azari at Southwell  

Alex Dunn Racing Weekly Report (6th- 12th December)

Introduction

What a week over the jumps, 5 runners 3 winners and a place! We doubled the number of jumps wins this week, added another half to our prizemoney from the previous week and Helium got his win at the grand old age of 13 years old.

Round up of runners

With such a good series of runs it seems unfair to talk about any one horse first, but as Helium was the first runner then I will start with him.

Helium was raced prominently throughout, making his move towards the end of the back straight and having a dual at the end with the second placed horse, eventually getting the better by 4 ½ lengths. Micheal gave him a wonderful ride, giving Helium gentle yet firm ride and jumping all the fences superbly save for a slower effort 3 out. This was Helium’s first win in 3 years.

Polo the Mumm followed up a couple of hours later at Wincanton to provide an across the card double. This was Polo’s first win in over 2 years in only his fourth run for the yard, winning by 4 ½ lengths. He jumped off towards the rear and was ridden wide to be prominent at the end of the back straight, kicking clear approaching 2 out and springing over the last to win handsomely. Liam has been working very hard with Polo at home and it was great for this result to come off, given how hard everyone has worked with him.

Swift Crusador was the third leg of the trio, making his first run for Alex Dunn a winning one. He tracked the leading pair from early on, challenging 3 out to win well, despite hanging to the left on the run in. The handicapper has put him up 5 pounds, but after his time off during the summer and his pre-training at the Rucker’s, he seems quite fresh faced and so hopefully he will have some further success.

Thahab Ifraj couldn’t follow up his heroics at Wincanton, though he still put in a good effort to finish 4th. Richard Johnson produced him 3 out though he couldn’t quite sustain the challenge, though he jumped well and a chase run may be beckoning in the not so distant future.

Helium retired

After Helium’s win at Market Rasen, we have decided to retire him. Helium has run 82 times, 51 for us, picking up 9 victories and collecting over a £100,000 in prizemoney. Helium has given so much to the yard, both on and off the track. Only last week Adam came into school and he needed a lead, so I caught Helium in from the field and popped him over the fences duly, foot perfect, and then he went back out to his paddock. Helium is an absolute gent and will stay at the yard for the foreseeable future, being a lead horse and practicing putting the younger horses through the stalls or giving them a lead over the fences. Helium has given so much to us and in return we shall give everything to him.

News in racing

Warwick racecourse have received some unwelcome visitors, with the arrival of a large traveller community camping in the O&T car park. Racing on Wednesday was able to continue as normal despite this inconvenience, though authorities are working to evict the travellers at the earliest opportunity and restore the racecourse to some sort of normal order.

Statistical Summary

Jumps 18/19

• Earnings - £62, 541
• Wins - 6
• Top 4 finishes – 32/89 (35.96%)

Flat 18

• Earnings - £110, 727
• Wins – 14
• Top 4 finishes – 57/182 (31.32%)

collecting the trophy at Sandown

Richard Johnson and the Dunnitalls

Helium “The Legend”.