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Welcome to Crossways Lodge
WELCOME TO CROSSWAYS LODGEWell, finally...
It's been 17 years since I last took part in SOPL. And I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth back into it.
The yards best results historically came from 2yo,
The Minstrel, winner of the Grimcrack Stakes, and then
Twenty Ten also won the Welsh Grand National, bringing the trophy home to Wales.
I remember as a teenager at the time being extremely excited watching those two victories. I am hoping now that I am in my 30s that with a little more experience and patience under my belt that I can be even more successful.
I'm under no illusions though that the first season will be a learning curve, so I'm not going to worry too much around this first season back results. It's more a season to build on.
But the important fact is that we are back! And so are the familiar Morgan red & yellow colours that Sam Morshead & Reg Crank wore on
Stans Pride in races such as the 1985 Champion Hurdle. The same colours that Steve Drowne, Royston Ffrench, Tom Siddall and Iona Wands wore as
Clytha Hill Lad would take 4 wins and a 2nd in 5 races in 1997. The same colours
Annijaz would represent under then new apprentice jockey and future World Champion Ryan Moore taking a win at Yarmouth in 2003, and later that year Keith Dalgleish would win on her twice more that same year at Redcar and Doncaster.
Here is my stable summery...
INTRODUCING THE 2YOS...There are some real shining lights, and many in my view exist in my 2yo crop of horses. Out of all of them I expect
Emilio Ross to go the better of the bunch. This one trialled especially well even as a horse expected to travel over 1m, besting all my sprinters over a 5 furlong distance, very interested to see how he runs. He was challenged however by fellow 2yo filly
Jacks Sila who has shown great potential in launching a challenge in the trials against his stable companion. Very likely these two will be ran together most races - though Jacks is favoured over 1m 2f.
Another exciting 2yo is filly
Fascination Soapbox who has shown a grand level of consistency, finishing in the top 3 consistently over an extremely busy trial period. And same can be said for frequent pace setter
Water Garden who like Soapbox, excels over sprint distance despite bred to carry 1m 2f.
INTRODUCING THE 3YOS...While the 2yos are expecting to take centre stage in our yard. We do have solid representation within our 3yos, with trials displaying impressive performance from filly
Furnish Luisa who came out of nowhere. There has also been a strong showing from stable companion
Everandmore, the fellow filly who has bested
Furnish Luisa on the gallops, could yet bring home something special. One of the largest shocks though from my point of view has to be
Sloe Loges, a 3yo filly that has ultimately been my most impressive over shorter distances despite bred to fulfil expectations over 1 mile, there is some serious pace there. But we won't get too excited until we settle into the action.
INTRODUCING THE 4YOS...Only two horses in our 4yo lineup.
Hooplah Norveginne may fair ok over moderate handicaps, though wins might be a little too much to ask. She has been bested on the gallops during trial phase against colt
Oldrik Nerja, whom despite both being bred with lineage strong over 1m 1f seems better over a slightly longer distance. Will take a view...
INTRODUCING THE 5YOS...Some interesting 5yos have lined up for us in the yard. Starting off with the filly
Bustamante, a horse that left me with quite a conundrum. I wasn't sure whether to introduce her as a 3yo or 4yo. But she vastly shone every other horse as a 5yo, so it made sense for her to join us at this point. We also have two colts that were bred to race over 1m 1f, named
Camara and
Seaview Blitz. Unsure how they will all perform competitively, but we will enjoy the show regardless.
So that's a base overview of what we have to offer! Excited to be getting stuck in again.
Lets see if we can make history!