With Huntingdon managing to pump the water off their course After Eight Sivola (Minty) was declared to run in their juvenile hurdle on the 6th February 2014.
Huntingdon is quite a small racecourse with a very friendly atmosphere. On arrival we warmed up with a nice chicken casserole and dumplings in the owners and trainers bar. 
We soon met up with our trainer, Nick Williams, and 3 other owners who had managed to make the trip. In addition Minty’s friend Alco Sivola was running in the same race and it was great to catch up with his owner Sally. We all hid away in the owners bar until the time of the race when we ventured out into the cold rain. Minty was saddled in the racecourse stables with Alco being saddled in the boxes by the parade ring. You can see us in the photo sheltering for as long as possible out of the rain!
During the race Minty and Alco were held up to try and get them to settle as they are still
inexperienced horses. We were really pleased with Minty as he settled so much better with our jockey, Richard Johnson, confirming that he hurdled very neatly. Minty kept up with the pace until the leaders drew away 2 hurdles out staying on well to come 5th with Alco 6th. With each run his confidence has grown and he has finished closer to the leaders. Having had 3 runs the handicapper has now allocated him a handicap mark of 117. This may not be quite high enough for him to get a run in the big juvenile handicap, the Fred Winter, at the Cheltenham Festival but Nick will make an entry and we will see what happens.
Beau De Tabel in the meantime did not run at Taunton as it was called off with water logging. Since then it has been decided to give Beau a few weeks off as he is a bit under the weather.
Diamond Eclipse (Lark), our first partnership horse, had his first point to point run for his new owner Emma at Black Forest Lodge in Devon. He was ridden by Lucy Gardner. The Gardners live very close to Emma and Lark trains on their gallops. The going was good to soft, soft in places and Lark was running over 3 miles having been used to running on firm ground over 2 to 2 and a half miles. However, he is actually bred to run extreme distances so it was no surprise to see him running very keenly and just weakening at the last fence to come a fantastic 3rd by 4 and a half lengths. He was one of only 4 to finish out of 12 runners which shows how gruelling the ground was. Everybody was thrilled with his run and he has another entry this Sunday at Buckfastleigh in South Devon.
Nick has not had any winners since my last blog with few runners due to abandonments. Tomorrow he has 2 good runners at Haydock with Abracadabra Sivola in the Juvenile and Horatio Hornblower in a handicap hurdle. Haydock are hopeful of the card going ahead but the ground will be very testing. We are looking forward to watching the racing on Channel 4 from the comfort of our armchairs.
Larkhills Racing Partnership 