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Quote: from apracing on 5:32 pm on Oct. 9, 2006[br]
If you look at a map, Jackdaws is in the area between Stow on the Wold and Moreton in the Marsh – that last word might be significant! The Cotswold scarp drops down sharply north of Stow with a drop of several hundred feet.
AP
Interesting. So Jackdaws appears to be situated on the heavy clays at the foot of the Cotswold limestone, whilst the Twiston-Davies hill climb is up on it.
The Vale of Evesham clay soils may be ideal for cherries and plums but perhaps not horses.
Is it mere coincidence that the historic racing centres of Lambourn, Newmarket, Middleham, Malton and Tipperary (and most of Ireland infact) are situated on a limestone or chalk bedrock? I think not, as these rocks nurture the lush calcium-rich grass that horses – and livestock generally – thrive on. Plenty of calcium is crucial to developing/maintaining a strong, healthy skeletal structure: bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament.
Seem to recall that Daniel Wildenstein, despite his numerous personality defects, at least had the good sense to send his yearlings for a ‘hardening’ winter/spring on the limestones of North Yorkshire; at Guy Reed’s place if memory serves.
Out of interest are racehorses routinely allowed to feed on ‘natural’ grass when available, or are their diets restricted in the main to ‘artificial’ pre-packaged nosh fortified with the necessary minerals and vitamins?
And does there exist among any/many the belief that ‘grass is best?’
So imagine what BJK could do if he was eating decent grass!!
Godolphin have been on fire recently and I think most trainers would take a 34% strike rate, so can’t agree with that (I’ve been backing a lot of their horses and it’s paying). Your comparing them to their own high standards not the mean within the industry. They do have better animals but better animals run against better animals so it’s all relative.
I can’t really think of a trainer who I don’t rate. I only really think about those that I do.
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