Had a long and exhausting, but ultimately fruitful day today. First time I have ever been to Cheltenham Racecourse, boy is it big and what a different atmosphere to Wincanton yesterday, and this was a quiet day. We spent the morning going around all the lots marked in our catalogue, and the afternoon not picking any winners at the races, I hoped this was a sign that we would get our good fortune at the sales rather than at the expense of the bookies.
I am pleased to say my wish came true and we bought a horse. Shilpa was the last lot of the day and a wildcard entry. JTB had previously pointed her out to me saying she was a syndicate horse being sold to settle a debt, we joked how funny it would be if we ended up buying her .....
There were some really lovely horses at the sales, prices were probably not as high as they could have been, nothing went for six figures as in previous sales, but some horses were getting up to quite scary amounts (eg more than I paid for my house). We were not sure therefore that we would be going home with anything. Luckily for us, Shilpa the horse that we had previously looked at and both liked, was to be our horse.
Because of the late finish (and because we had not tempted fate by driving to Cheltenham in a horse box) Shilpa is spending the night at Cheltenham, she seemed quite happy about this and was busy munching through a mountain of hay when we left. Spending this time with her, taking her plaits out, checking her over and generally settling her down for the night, has shown her to be a lovely mare with good manners in the stable and easy to do. I think she will soon become a firm favourite in the yard, her previous trainer and her lad were certainly very sorry to loose her.
No photos at the moment, we will take some in the morning in daylight. So exciting, we can't wait to get started with her.
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