Back in October 2019, all members were eagerly looking forward to the season ahead with Romeo Brown and Becky the Thatcher having flown the flag big style for us in the previous season.
Add to that the addition of Blaster Yeats, who looked a shrewd purchase, giving us three horses to start the current 2019 / 2020 NH season.
Fast forward to today, the 4th Feb 2020, and yours truly plus members are completely shell shocked and left wondering just how much worse can things get.
Why ? read on….
Becky started the ball rolling with a nice 5th of 16 opening effort at Wetherby on 16th Oct `19 over a distance (3mls) which we suspected would test her stamina.
Next day Romeo Brown ran a blinding first race of the season at Carlisle when a fast finishing second over 2ml 4f which augured well for the season ahead.
Three days later, our new kid on the block Blaster Yeats ran his first race under rules at Sedgefield in a 2ml Maiden event at Sedgefield, finishing a very promising 4th of 12.
Blaster then went on improving by running an excellent 3rd on 8th Nov at Hexham and an even better 2nd at Wetherby on 27th Nov `19.
A race was then selected at the following Hexham meeting on the 11th Dec which, after checking out the entries, convinced me this would be the day he would lose his maiden tag.
But alas, unbeknown to us, on the 10th Dec `19 the dark clouds of doom were gathering…big style.
This was the day before Blasters planned Hexham win race…declarations day…. when I received the dreaded phone call from Sue Smith saying Blaster had injured himself in work and could not run at Hexham.
The vet was called to investigate, and the two words I most feared, tendon injury, became fact.
The 2019 /20 season had become a write off for Blaster Yeats.
Tragic for everyone involved, especially as 25% of Blaster members were having their first involvement with shared racehorse ownership.
As if that wasn`t bad enough, just take a look at how events have panned out since the fateful Blaster news, for our two remaining horses, who had given us so much to look forward to after their excellent performances during the previous season.
Becky the Thatcher 15th December Carlisle last of 4 tailed off
1st February Wetherby Pulled up never going
Romeo Brown 4th Dec Haydock fell 2nd last ….jumped for fun last season
21st Dec Haydock fell 2nd last ” ” ” ” ”
9th Jan Catterick 5th of 9 at least he stayed on his feet
3rd Feb Carlisle Pulled Up never remotely in with a chance.
Compare the above stats to the stats of the previous season, and they are impossible to comprehend.
Never in all my 12 years running McGoldrick Racing have I lived through such dark, torrid times as the last 3 months.
To their great credit, my loyal members, whilst disappointed and frustrated, remain pragmatic in the belief that two very decent horses, with different Trainers, don`t just become bad horses overnight, and, with both Trainers determined to seek an upward curve in the form of Becky and Romeo, we must trust and rely on them to succeed.
Make it soon please guys.
