DIARY – VISIT TO WHITE SHOOT STABLES
TO SEE MENACE, THE TWITTERATI SYNDICATE HORSE
SATURDAY 12 MARCH 2016
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Menace
and me |
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Useful Links: EPDS’ website: EPDS on twitter: https://twitter.com/EPDS_Racing EPDS on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EPDSRacingSyndicate Noel Williams Racing: http://www.noelwilliamsracing.co.uk/ Noel Williams on twitter: https://twitter.com/noelwilliams03 |
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EPDS Racing arranged another visit to Noel Williams’
yard, just five weeks after the previous one.
This was to allow syndicate members to see Menace on the gallops,
finally. The first visit in February
2015 was to meet our horse, and on the second visit in October 2015 Menace
was resting, having run at Exeter two days previously. Then, on 06 February, he’d been in light
work having taken a mid-season break due to the heavy ground. This day was the final Saturday before the 2016
Cheltenham Festival; the beginning of my busiest period of the year. Not only that, but due to reorganisation at
work, it had been manic since 01 February!
So, by this stage, I was looking forward to a very well-deserved 10-day
break; and it began on this Saturday. The arrangement was to meet at Noel’s yard at
10:30. I did set my alarm but, in the
event, I was awake by 06:10. Having
showered and washed and dried my hair, applied make-up, eaten two croissants
for breakfast, I was ready to go by 08:30. Today’s outfit was a pair of dark blue jeggings, a grey thermal t-shirt with a design of small
black doves upon it (I have two of these), a mauve v-neck sweater, lavender
coloured fleece, burgundy jacket, violet ‘sausages’
scarf (as pictured above), black canvas handbag, short striped M&S
wrist-warmers, Fired Creations “Violetfire” necklace and earrings. I also took my snow-boots. I wore full make-up, with a pale shade on
my eyelids (I normally wear plum or dark brown); I needed a lift because I
looked very tired due to long hours spent at work. At the start of my journey, I visited the local
supermarket to top up the petrol tank of my car; it had been between half and
a quarter full. My route then took me
to Junction 22 of the M25, and I followed the anticlockwise carriageway
around to Junction 15, the M4. There
were warnings of an incident displayed on gantries between the Kings Langley
and Chorleywood junctions, but no sign of anything untoward. I always ensure that I move into the inside lane
in plenty of time before I reach the interchange; there was one idiot who almost
missed it. The driver literally
squeezed between vehicles using lanes intended for those wishing to continue
upon the M25, and then had to drive across the white hatching lines in order
to make it onto the slip-road. Talk
about leaving it until the last minute; what a fool. Having taken the westbound carriageway, I headed
to Junction 12; the same junction I use when I go to Newbury racecourse. It had been a little misty at home, but it
was foggy from Maidenhead until the point I exited the motorway. Initially I headed along the A4 Theale bypass, before turning right at one of the
roundabouts in order to head along the A340 to Pangbourne. Having joined the A329 and driven beneath the
railway arch in the centre of the village, I then headed along beside the
River Thames, past Beale Wildlife Park, over the narrow traffic-light
controlled railway bridge, through Lower Basildon to reach Streatley. Having
negotiated the crossroads in the centre of Streatley,
I continued a short distance along the Wallingford Road, before bearing off
to the left along the A417. A short distance along the road is a sign marking
the boundary of West Berkshire with Oxfordshire. There doesn’t actually need to be a sign
because, solely having noted the state of repair of the roads, it’s obvious
that you’ve entered Oxfordshire!
Hertfordshire’s roads are in a diabolical state of repair, as are
Buckinghamshire’s. West Berkshire’s
roads are terrible; there had been a road repair scar running all the way
from Pangbourne, through Streatley,
all the way to the county boundary; at which point it disappeared, because
the A417 had been resurfaced fairly recently!
Sadly the repair had seen far better days, and God only knows what
havoc it was causing to every vehicle’s suspension as it drove along this
stretch of the road. Anyway, I’d soon reached Blewbury,
at which point I turned left into Woodway. I had to wait for a van to pull out of a
turning to the right as I headed along the lane, before I headed up the hill
towards the stables. Again I chickened
out of parking on the grass verge, instead choosing to do a u-turn and park
facing downhill upon the final tarmac passing place! It was just before 10:15. Whilst I was locking up my car, a number of
horses from Eve Johnson-Houghton’s string headed down the roadway past me,
before they turned around and headed back up the lane once again. I walked up to the yard entrance, where a
couple of people were already waiting.
Then another lady joined our group; a blonde haired Irish lady who I’d
met during the October 2015 visit to the yard. As we chatted, a lady from the original group
came over to me and asked if I was ‘Jane’.
Er, yes.
“I’m Caroline”, she said. I must
have looked blank ... as you do, because she told me her surname, and I then
knew it was a work colleague I’d known for years, but only to talk to as she
works mainly in the field and is based in Yorkshire. Evidently she recognised my voice. It’s a small world! We chatted as we waited; entering the yard at
10:30 as arranged. This gave Noel and
his team chance to sort out the horses which had worked earlier in the
morning. I had a quick glance around
the barn to see which equines had been tacked up ready to go up to the
gallops. Excellent; Bingo D’Olivate was one of them. He’d won at Newbury the previous Saturday,
ridden by Wayne Hutchinson; starting price 14-1! He would be joined by Theatre Goer, who’d
also run well to finish runner-up in her race at Newbury on the Friday. The other horse joining Menace would be
EPDS’ Daliance.
A number of horses had been moved to a different
box. Cinderfella
had moved to Big Society’s old box, with Pattara
returning to the end box to take Cinderfella’s
place. Menace was still in the nearest
of the two outside boxes, alongside the mare Kokomo – that’s because they are
both smaller than the average thoroughbred!
Friendly Society had taken up residence in the small haybarn, next to Chance Taken, and opposite Theatre
Goer. Presumably EPDS’ Kincora Fort had now gone back home to complete his
recuperation following a leg problem.
I made a special point of going to see Chance Taken before we headed
up to the gallops. Noel currently had the maximum of 20 horses in
the yard, with a handful absent through injury. The new yard, on the far side of Blewbury, had space for 80 horses, with Noel hoping to
fill 40 of the boxes in due course. Initially the four horses to be worked were
ridden around the outside of the aforementioned barn, before they set off to
the gallops. The visitors accompanied
Noel to the gallops on foot, with John and his partner Ellie, and son Alfie, taking their 4x4 along with anyone unable to walk
that far. It was a little bit misty,
at a distance, but an improvement on earlier conditions according to
Noel. And anything was an improvement
on the gale which was blowing during February’s visit! That day, it had been almost impossible to
hold a camera still enough to take any photos whatsoever! When asked, Noel said he didn’t have a Cheltenham
Festival runner this year but, all being well, he hoped that Briery Queen would be able to run in the OLBG Mares’
Hurdle next year. This season hadn’t
gone to plan for her; the fall she suffered at Haydock
earlier in the season had dented her confidence and it had taken time to get
her back to her old self in order to win a mares’ race at Doncaster earlier
in the month. However, next season
would probably be her final one, as her owners were breeders and would be
keen to have her as a brood mare. All four horses did two gallops up the
all-weather strip, with solely Daliance and Menace
doing three. The other two didn’t need
to do too much work, having run recently at Newbury. Gallops over, the syndicate members walked
back to the yard; I chatted to the Irish lady as we headed back. Having walked back down the tree-lined
driveway to Eve’s yard, we exited onto the lane where we encountered another
string of her horses; we waited for them to pass by. Daliance’s
legs were being hosed down as we arrived back. The two EPDS horses were returned to their respective
stables; a short time afterwards, firstly Menace, then Daliance
were led back out to be hosed down because they were
hot and sweaty. There was also an
opportunity for Ellie to take individual photos of a number of us with Menace
(see link below). I don’t pat horses, I stroke or scratch them but,
having done this, I felt unable to eat any of the goodies on offer without an
opportunity to wash my hands. Hannah
Bishop had suggested to me that Midnight Merlot likes polos,
and Midnight Jitterbug likes carrots.
So, with this in mind, I fed two polos to
the former, and half a carrot to the latter; I also gave King Kayf a polo. Bingo still likes to lick hands, which he
did with me; and he almost got hold of one of the ‘sausages’ in my scarf ... the little tinker! I gave Chance Taken a
polo; Friendly Society seemed to be looking on with envy, so I gave
him one too! I said my goodbyes at around 12:40 ... and was
probably the last to leave, apart from John and Ellie! I thought about going across country to get
home ... in other words, heading for Wallingford or possibly crossing over
the Thames at Goring ... but I ended up retracing my journey instead. Although lunchtime, the roads weren’t
congested, except for the stretch of the M25 between the M4 and M40 – but
that still wasn’t bad, just a reduction in speed, rather than a traffic jam. However, I have to confess that I felt
absolutely worn out as I drove back along the M4, yawning many times. Oh God, that was not a good sign
considering I’d need to drive a total of 800 miles over a period of 4 days
during the Cheltenham Festival the following week. I arrived home at gone 14:00, because I paid a
return visit to the local supermarket to top up the petrol tank once again; there
was a long, slow moving queue of traffic through the shopping area leading to
the supermarket. Fortunately, however,
there wasn’t a queue to use the pumps!
It had turned out to be a beautiful mid-March day
and, as such, I decided to wash my car when I got home, although I did take a
little time out to watch the racing from Sandown Park, including the Imperial
Cup where Martin Keighley’s Solstice Star, seeking a five-timer, finished an
excellent second in the race. I should
have worn rubber gloves as, later in the evening, the back of my hands had
become itchy and blood speckled. That’s usually an autumn issue – it just
goes to show what topsy turvy
weather we have nowadays. The following day I visited the second day of the
local Agricultural College’s lambing live event. And, this year, I actually saw a lamb being
born. I also saw four alpacas, a
number of the horses and ponies housed at their equestrian centre, white park
cattle, Toggenburg goats and kids, and Saddleback
pigs and piglets. And I had my haircut ... hoping that the weather
during Cheltenham week wouldn’t be so cold that I would regret this! The one major problem with short hair is
having cold ears during the winter. Click here to view my photographs This
link features our visit to see Menace on Saturday; I’m pictured too: http://epds-racing.co.uk/the-magic-of-menace-trip-to-noel-williams-racing/ |
