Christopher Thornton

Horse racing news from Chris Thornton's yard.

This is our new horsebox.

YOU ARE VERY WELCOME TO COME AND SEE THE HORSES IN THE YARD, JUST GET IN TOUCH

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DID YOU KNOW----------------DURING 2009

MR GUY REED CELBRATED HIS 500th WINNER AS AN OWNER .

THIS IS QUITE A MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT - VERY FEW OWNERS WILL HAVE HAD 500 WINNERS

370 of these winners were trained by CHRIS THORNTON.

60 were trained by SAM HALL

The other 70 were trained by about a dozen or so other trainers MR REED has used.

CHRIS THORNTON NO LONGER HAS ANY HORSES FOR MR REED

NO WONDER THE WORDS 'PANCAKE TUESDAY' COME TO MIND WHEN YOU THINK OF MR REEDS WINNERS NOWADAYS (ONLY TWO TURF FLAT WINNERS IN LAST TWELVE MONTHS)

LETS ROLL, DANZATRICE and PETELLA are full brothers and sisters - all by TAMURE out of MISS PETRONELLA To date they have won 14 races and been placed 64 times between them, winning over £160,000 in prize money.

THE FOLLOWING FOUR HORSES WERE PURCHASED FOR £9,400 (for all FOUR)

LETS ROLL : FRESCHEZZA : DANZATRICE : SMARTIES PARTY

They were all bred by MR GEOFFREY GREGSON at BEECH TREE STUD in DORSET. ALL FOUR ARE BY TAMURE ALL FOUR HAVE WON RACES

BETWEEN THEM THEY HAVE WON-------------------------------------------------------------15 RACES and been PLACED 75 TIMES (winning £167,000 in prize money)

They have won prize money in 76% of their races.

THEY HAVE WON PRIZE MONEY ON THE FOLLOWING RACECOURSES.

ASCOT : AYR : BEVERLEY : CARTMEL : CATTERICK : CHELTENHAM : GOODWOOD : DONCASTER : HAMILTON : HAYDOCK : KELSO : MUSSELBURGH : NEWCASTLE : NEWMARKET (Rowley Mile) : NEWMARKET (July) : REDCAR : RIPON : SANDOWN PARK : SEDGEFIELD : TOWCESTER : THIRSK : UTTOXETER : WETHERBY : WOLVERHAMPTON : YORK

Just think of the fun the owners involved with these horses have had on such diverse racecourses, from Cheltenham to Ascot - there will be plenty of owners spent millions and never got anywhere near this sort of performance

ENTRIES WEEK BEGINNING MONDAY JULY 26th

THERE ARE NO ENTRIES THIS WEEK

POSSIBLE ENTRIES WEEK BEGINNING MONDAY AUGUST 2nd

HAYDOCK THURSDAY

2:40 SILVER TIGRESS

HAYDOCK FRIDAY

6:20 TIGERINO

AYR SATURDAY

8:10 PETELLA

NEXT ENTRY LIST

To keep everyone informed the following is a full list of the horses in the yard, which includes the next probable entry for that specific horse. This is just a guideline it will not be certain that they will run in these races.

HORSE-----------------------------NEXT ENTRY

SMARTIES PARTY- turned out

PETELLA------- AYR SAT AUGUST 7th

SPRUZZO-----turned out

TIGERINO-----HAYDOCK FRIDAY AUGUST 6th

SILVER TIGRESS------HAYDOCK THURSDAY AUGUST 5th

ALIMURE-----------undecided

ALFINSKI------------undecided

TRAINING REPORT

DANZATRICE RETIRES TO STUD - winner of 7 races and £44,471 in prize money. DANZATRICE is now tested IN FOAL to DESIDERATUM

SMARTIES PARTY

This filly is a really good looking daughter of TAMURE. She is a half sister to a useful chaser in POPPY MAROON. She has progressed really well, being placed in National Hunt Flat Races, winning a two and a half mile novice hurdle, and from three runs on the flat she has been placed twice. She is developing into a pretty consistant mare, and being pretty versatile she can run over hurdles or on the flat. She has won just over £9,500 in prize money to date, but I am hopeful that she will add to that. Providing that the going does not get too soft she will shortly run over hurdles again. She is rated 100 and should be capable of performing well off that. We are hoping to get her prize money haul to over 10,000 before 2010. This mare is a pleasure to train. Having run with promise on the flat, and getting a rating of 58 - I think we will be concentrating on flat racing for the next few months. I am pretty sure that she will win races from 14 furlongs and upwards.

PETELLA

PETELLA showed great promise in three runs last season, but although she ran very well in her first run this season at HAYDOCK to finish fourth in a mile handicap, she has since run well below expectations. She now looks as though she is going to require a good step up in distance, probably up to two miles, which is exactly what her full sister DANZATRICE required before showing her best form. One effect the below expectation runs of Petella has had is that she has tumbled down the handicap from 65 to 48, couple that fact with the step up to running over two miles at Nottingham probably accounts for her distinct improvement in form. Held up in last place PETELLA made relentless progress up the straight to be a staying on second. She looked to get every yard of the trip, in reality looked as though even further would not go amiss. This filly could develop into a really good staying filly, she will be even better next season and could well emulate her full sister and brother DANZATRICE and LETS ROLL who have won £150,000 between them. Lets hope it is onwards and upwards from now on. PETELLA has done really well during the Winter months - she has grown considerably and really furnished well. PETELLA has shown how much she has improved with every race this season, culminating in a pretty easy win in a two mile one furlong handicap at Carlisle this week. She is proving to be an out and out stayer - with what seems like limitless stamina - the further she goes the better she goes. She is very genuine, and whilst the race she won was not of very good quality, I am sure there are plenty more races to be won with her. We are very lucky to have this filly.

SPRUZZO

SPRUZZO is a very good looking FULL brother to SPRINKLER who won over hurdles for us. To date he has been disappointing, but has yet to have conditions in his favour - he requires good or faster going and has a pedigree packed with stamina, so probably requires two miles on the flat and at least two and a half over hurdles, infact it would be no shock if he got three miles really well. Having been pulled up wearing blinkers in a selling hurdle at Wetherby - and requiring a telescope to find him in another selling hurdle at Sedgefield - it was a bit of a suprise to say the least when he ran on in gamest of style to win a two mile 51-70 flat race at Ripon. This was the third year in sucession that his owners have won this race, having won it the previous two years with Danzatrice. Hopefully it is onwards and upwards with SPRUZZO now. He may run at NEWCASTLE next Friday with a 6lb penalty. He won from 5lbs out of the handicap - so is most likely to have his rating increased by more than six pounds. Always run where you are best handicapped is a good motto to follow.

TIGERINO

This well grown two year old gelding by the very promising young sire TIGER HILL, had his first race at NOTTINGHAM this week. We intentionally waited for some rain so that he could run on Good or Softer ground. It is very important with these younger horses to try and reduce the chance of injury at such an early stage of their careers - we are hoping that this horse will eventually develop into a long serving member of the string and it would be foolhardy to take chances with him at this stage. He ran a pretty promising race, behaving very well, he ran on quite well in the latter stages of the race, over a distance which eventually will prove was far too short for him, his sire TIGER HILL was very effective over 12 furlongs - and many of his offspring stay much further than that. He has come home in good shape and should be ready to run again in about three weeks - providing that we can find some decent going to run on.

SILVER TIGRESS

SILVER TIGRESS had her first race at Haydock - running on very well over six furlongs to finish in mid-field in what looked a pretty competitive maiden race. This was a very promising first effort. Again the going will be very important to her, and we will not run again until we are guaranteed some decent going. This is a very promising filly who will run even better when we step her up in trip

BAY GELDING by DANROAD out of BROWNSFIELD by AJRAAS

FOALED 19th APRIL 2008

DANROAD was a high class sprinter in NEW ZEALAND. Winner of 6 races including a GROUP 2 (he was also second in a GROUP 1) over 6 furlongs. He is from the DANEHILL sire line. He spent his first two years at stud in NEW ZEALAND - then was sent to Ireland where he stood for two seasons. He has had his first crop of runners this season in N.Z and Australia and has done amazingly well with seven GROUP winners including a GROUP 1 winner. This is pretty well unheard of and he has now gone back to NEW ZEALAND with a vastly increased stud fee.

BROWNSFIELD was placed ten times on the flat - beaten a short head once (so nearly won) at distances of around a mile

CH GELDING by ATRAF out of HIGH CHART by ROBELLINO

FOALED 5th APRIL 2008

ATRAF : High class winner of 6 races over 6 and 7 furlongs value 131,000. He has sired the winner of nearly 3m at stud including high class sprinter SIERRA VISTA. He gets tough genuine, ver fast horses.

HIGH CHART : won first time out as a two year old over 5 furlongs and went on to win three races one over a mile.

CH GELDING by DANROAD out of PIP'N JUDY by PIPS PRIDE

FOALED 4th MAY 2008

DANROAD was a high class sprinter in NEW ZEALAND. Winner of 6 races including a GROUP 2 (he was alao second in a GROUP 1) over 6 furlongs. He is from the DANEHILL sire line. He spent his first two years at stud in NEW ZEALAND - then was sent to Ireland where he stood for two seasons. He has had his first crop of runners this season in N.Z and Australia and has done amazingly well with seven GROUP winners including a GROUP 1 winner. This is pretty well unheard of and he has now gone back to NEW ZEALAND with a vastly increased stud fee.

PIP'N JUDY is by the sensational stallion PIPS PRIDE (easily the best son of EFISIO at stud). She was a winner over 7 furlongs as a three year old, and was placed second three times. She has already bred three winners

You can look at photographs of these horses on www.chris-thornton.com