Sport

FLASH PREPARES FOR FIRST RACE

16 August 2007

The roller coaster ride continues this week as we prepare for Southwark Newsflash to have her first race at Yarmouth.

The ownership certificates for her are in the process of being sent out and those of you who have paid up and joined in shares of her will be getting your document soon.  

We do not have the full 100 members yet which we need to cover the costs of keeping her in training so until the full number have joined I am making good the financial shortfall personally.  

This is not an ideal situation but the filly must have a race sooner rather than later and this Wednesday is the big day in the 2.50 6f maiden at Yarmouth.

Just to recap on the situation with our filly I will go over one or two things about her.   Firstly her name will be written as one word. The bosses at the ‘News’ liked the name Newsflash but when I came to register her as Southwark Newsflash it has one too many syllables because you have to count the space between the words so we had to make it one word.  

In these pages and in the newsletter I send to members I shall always write it as two words because it is easier to read.   Secondly I need to tell again how we came to be involved with the filly.  

The membership list for Newsboy became oversubscribed and in order for more people to join in we had to find another hoss.  

When Flash becomes oversubscribed we will find a third hoss and so forth. This is so that the share proportion does not become diluted almost to nothing the way it does in some syndicates.  

Mrs Dunnett our trainer owned Flash and suggested that she could be a bargain buy for us.   The filly is very well bred being from the same female line as Alex Ferguson's Rock of Gibraltar.   Mrs Dunnett took a big chance with her because she had breathing problems.  

We in turn are taking a big chance with her because we are gambling on her being able to get enough air into her lungs when she runs.   I have seen her do speed work on the gallops twice. On one occasion she struggled on the other occasion she went like a bullet so on Wednesday at Yarmouth we could see anything.   One thing is for sure and that is if she does run well at Yarmouth she will instantly be worth very much more than her purchase price and will have a future as a broodmare.   Our other Racing Club hoss Southwark Newsboy is a much more bread and butter hoss.   Despite an accident prone start to his racing career I am still confident that he will win races but not set the world alight. 

Flash is a different proposition.   She either will or she will not be a very good hoss and we shall know very quickly.

As for the choice of jockey for Southwark Newsflash on Wednesday, Mrs Dunnett's stable jockey Dimitri Mylonas is as narked with me as I am with him about Newsboy's first two races and my criticsm of his rides, especially the second one when I believe he let our hoss run much too freely, so I have asked Mrs Dunnett to engage Kevin Ghunowa whom I know well from his days with Mark Polglase.   Kevin is still a 5lb claiming apprentice and that will help take a bit of weight off our filly's back.   Kevin broke my filly Small Time Blues and I have always been impressed with him.  

He is very quiet and courteous and follows instructions to the letter.   I like a jockey who behaves like a jockey.  
He calls me "sir" and my wife "ma'am" and it is little things like that which mean a lot when you have so much invested in the hoss they are riding.

There are only eight runners in our race on Wednesday and where Flash finishes in that eight is not important, what matters is whether the tongue strap and crossed nose bands allow enough air to get to her engine.   We shall see.

My Saturday bet is one which has won twice for us before Peppertree Lane in the 2.45 at Newbury.

*Newflash ran in the 2:50 Fillies Stakes at Yarmouth on Wednesday, but finished out of the places.

Read The Shadow next week for a full report.

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