When we bought Maisey we liked the fact that she had not done any jumping before, taking that a stage further we started thinking about a horse that had never even raced before that was a completely blank canvas. I had to say this idea came from our visits to the studs where we were introduced to some wonderful youngstock.
We were not particularly worried about a filly or gelding (psst, I wanted a filly) but did want something that was mature for it's age that hadn't been over worked as a youngster and so given time to develop without too many stresses and strains on it's joints. There were several in the catalogue that we liked the sound of but the horse that caught our eye was a filly by Strategic Prince, unnamed but with the stable name of Poppy.
Poppy posing after the sale, if only she was looking at the camera
Poppy wasn't left with any hay or water but we managed to 'borrow' some from Ascot
Her eyes really aren't that shade of green
I'm not sure what John said to her but it may have been a bit rude for a young girl
What I liked about Poppy was her confirmation, she is also eye catching and will be more so when her summer coat has come through and she has matured a bit more. I also liked her manners in the stable and she is the sort of horse that likes a bit of fuss which I think is important in a partnership horse. When she was walked and trotted up for us she showed she had a bit of a sparky side to her once she got her feet on the grass which I was pleased to see.
The catalogue describes her as:
A lovely, kind filly with no soundness issues. Out of a winning dam by a top young sire who in turn is by Dansili (GB). This filly is good to shoe, box and groom. Also a good ride for a girl. Has been allowed time to mature and has seen Lingfield Park racecourse for an exercise gallop. A sure fire winner in the future with ability to match. Present trainer would be delighted to train this horse for the new owner and sadly for sale to help recover a debt.
Poppy has come from T McCarthy's yard and he said exactly the same as the catalogue, we also spoke to the groom that was with her and she was very positive as well. I think they were slightly bemused by my excitement in seeing that she wasn't wearing shoes, they also don't turn the horses in training out so was a little confused about my questions regarding her temperament with other horses in a paddock.
John liked her breeding, Strategic Prince (8 y o standing at Coolmore Stud) is a stallion known for adding speed and himself the son of the famous stallion Dansili; this certainly is something that promises a real turn of foot but could be considered a weakness for a National Hunt horse. However, we looked closely at her dam side, and her dam sire (Josr Algahoud) is the sire of several well regarded National Hunt horses, including Charlie Mann's respected novice chaser How's Business and the hurdler Daldini, with plenty of soft ground form in the breeding.
Luckily for us Peter from PFN Transport was at the sales and he agreed to take her back to Simon's for her, we had actually bought her by the time he arrived at Ascot as the traffic was bad. Peter handles the horses really well and gives them a good journey. We decided we would put the lorry on the bank where there is a gate that can swing behind, we had been told she was green at loading but would go in in time. At Ascot you can only handle a horse out of a box with either a bridle or chiffney on, Peter leant us a chiffney while he went to wait his turn to get the lorry in to position. Once we were good to go I led her out, she posed for a couple of photographs and then we walked through the car park and up the bank. Everything was good up until the point I was on top of the bank (with a four foot unshielded drop on to concrete either side) and the guys decided a block of wood was needed to stop the ramp from wobbling on one side. Standing on the top of a bank, with a young horse, is not the best place to be, particularly when people helpfully started dragging wheely bins around and generally clattering about. At this point I decided we needed to get off the bank before a nasty accident occurred. The chiffney had a long rope on it but I hate them with a passion so we spent an interesting few minutes with me trying to move her feet but not pull on the chiffney and her going 'oh my god blue wheely bins, oh my god bits of paper flapping about, oh my god everyone is leaving me and I am on my own .........' Good learning point for me, always make sure I have rope halter in the car with a long rope so I can use that instead of the chiffney.
As they said she would be she was a little sticky to load but we bought the gates behind her and she went in without getting wound up about things. Peter had given her a large box instead of a partition with a big hay net so she travelled loose to Simon's and he didn't hear a peep out of her for the entire journey. Of course she walked back down the ramp as cool as a cucumber and in to her stable so that was good.
Simon rang an hour or so later to say she was settling in ok and that he liked her, she will be in the overflow yard for a week or so before she moves in to the main yard, she will have bloods taken and will generally be checked over. We usually get the teeth done and a visit from the physio at this point to give them a bit of an MOT, she will also go on the horse walker and Simon will start to assess her, we are already talking about the possibility of Junior Bumpers for her.
We now have the fun part of marketing her for the new partnership, I am hoping as she is barefoot already she will be of interest to some of the barefoot community. We also get to think up a name for her, we like the prefix Loxley and her dam is Haiti Dancer so I suggested choosing the name of a dance beginning with 'L', sadly neither John or Ian liked 'Loxleys Lambada' I have no idea why ;)
More info can be found on our website www.epds-racing.co.uk or via email of info@epds-racing.co.uk.
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