Our 2024/2025 season round up
So that’s it folks – the 2024/2025 season is at an end. 140 jumps runners, 12 flat runners. 28 winners with 20 different horses, 60 places, nearly £350,000 in prize money and a whole heap of fun and good memories. The season has been a busy one, and its great to have the opportunity to look back and reflect, and enjoy a few of the highlights again. Forgive me if I don’t mention every horse and every winner – although they are all incredibly special – but I’ll reminisce over a few.
But before I talk about the horses, some heartfelt thanks to those who made it all possible. We are so lucky to have a wonderful group of owners with whom we have been able to share the highs – and lows. We have a fantastic new sponsor in Pragnell, and we look forward to winning many more races with their support in the coming seasons. We are privileged to have some of the very best jockeys riding for us. But the real stars – and the people to whom we all owe an immeasurable debt of thanks – are the team members here at K&M Racing who work so hard in all conditions, at home and on the road, to make it all happen. Without them, their dedication and their passion there would be no winners – its as simple as that.
Who can remember the first winner of the season ? I confess I had to think hard – May 2024 seems a long time ago – but it was SISTER MICHAEL winning at Warwick on the bank holiday weekend. That proved a fitting way to sign off his career under Rules – he’s now having a wonderful time learning a new job – eventing – in Scotland.
The next winner was a name that you’ll now know well – YELLOW CAR – although given where he ended the season, I’d challenge you to say where he first won. No ? It was in a 21f Kingston Blount maiden point to point ! That was the perfect starting point for him to learn his craft – a bumper on good ground at that time of year would have been wasted on him – and he learned well. Novice hurdle wins over 22f at Newton Abbot and Fontwell under Nick Slatter followed through the summer, and then after a short break, he thrived for Nick when stepping up to 3m, placing 3rd in the Grade 3 Albert Bartlett trial at Cheltenham before Christmas, winning the Grade 2 River Don at Doncaster in January (first in a photo and then in the Stewards room !) and then improving yet again to finish 4th in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett at the Festival for his new owner Harry Redknapp. He took us to places last year that we would never have dreamed of when we stood on that Oxfordshire hillside last May watching Toby McCain-Mitchell boot him home.
The summer saw wins for the PPP Syndicate and NOT SO SOBERS (second on debut in a Market Rasen bumper behind THE NEW LION, great placing Graeme …), BARRAKHOV, AVIEWTOSEA, GO GO CHICAGO, WE GOTTA GETAWAY and AVIEWTOSEA. It also saw the first of two wins for EBONY WARRIOR – who would go on to be a superb second in the valuable Worcester novices handicap hurdle final in the autumn – and LEAVE HER TO ME, who proved herself time and time again to be such a tough mare. And speaking of tough mares – ROCKOLA VOGUE won her bumper at the third time of asking, having been placed on both previous starts, and then went on to run 6 times over hurdles through the winter, winning twice including the Lady Buttons final at Musselburgh in March and never finishing out the frame. Her form figures for her debut season read 331312214 – quite some achievement. Shaw Racing have got a good one there for the future. Alongside AMELIA’S STAR – another bumper winner who ran with real credit in the Grade 2 Aintree Mares bumper – they have plenty to look forward to next year.
And I can’t leave the Shaw Racing team without a fond mention of one of their old campaigners – GET THE POT. He got his head in front in September, and while he might not be the most reliable these days, when he’s in the mood, he still has the ability, as his two good seconds to finish this season have proved. He’ll go through the summer, and I’ve got a sneaking season he might surprise us by showing there’s life in the old fellow yet.
Autumn saw BILLY BOI BLUE return to action after his summer break with a super win on his first try at 3 miles at Wetherby. Although he had a blip over fences next time out, he showed he’s a horse to keep on the right side of with a cracking run at Huntingdon off a career high mark in January in a Pertemps qualifier, and then an even better run to win over 3m at the Scottish Grand National meeting in Ayr, showing incredible tenacity to hold on and stick his neck out in a three way photo. That win was one of the season highlights for me – so nice when a horse shows attitude like that. A fun season over fences with him awaits next year for BDR Syndicates – and they’ve got a very nice novice hurdler to look forward to as well in DRIFTWOOD BOUNTY. He showed plenty of promise in his debut bumper before getting his head in front for Nick Slatter at Huntingdon and then finishing like a train in the Ayr bumper on Scottish National day to finish the season with form figures of 313 in his three bumpers.
MARTALITE had been a work in progress the previous season, but he returned to action in the winter with two wins to show that the penny was dropping. But the highlight for his owners David & Jackie Adams before Christmas was another listed win with MARBLE SANDS – and his first black type over fences to add to his Sidney Banks win over hurdles – in the Colin Parker at Carlisle. That race had been the plan for a good while, and it was a thrill to see it all come together as it did. The handicapper didn’t make life easy for him after that win, but he’s never one to let us down, as a third and a second in two Grade 3s at Newcastle and Cheltenham showed. A yard full of horses like him would be very nice !
February saw our only blank month for the season – I blame the weather ! – but we returned to action with a bang in March, with a 46% win and 77% win & place strike rate for the month. ROCKOLA VOGUE won the Lady Buttons Final, MOON CHIME won on his return to action as he liked, EBONY WARRIOR returned after a winter break to win a nice Warwick novices hurdle under a penalty and LEAVE HER TO ME gave Louis Gill, our ace photographer and film maker, his first win under Rules – an emotional day ! And March also saw the emergence of one who might just be a bit of a star. DESTINATION DUBAI had shown very little in his Irish points last year before winning a Hereford bumper in the autumn. He made his debut for us under Oscar Palmer in what looked to be a hot Warwick bumper, and although we fancied him to run a nice race under his penalty, I don’t think any of us were expecting him to win as impressively as he did. On the back of that he was entitled to go for a bigger target, and he showed quite what an engine he has under the bonnet when almost making all in the Aintree bumper on Grand National Day, only be pipped inside the final furlong, with him and the winner finishing well clear. Keep an eye on him, he’s going to be a name to remember.
And so to April and the end of the season. CELESTIAL GIFT proved that patience really is a virtue, winning on debut at Carlisle as a 7 year old. He’s not been the easiest to train, but my goodness he’s been worth the wait. A lovely big horse, he’ll be a fun chaser, although hopefully there is more to come over hurdles too. And SERAPHIC gave us a win on the flat at Brighton – he’s loving his change of scenery and is going to have some cracking days out under both Codes through the summer on good ground.
The season has been amazing. The results have been fantastic, the memories even better. And now we try to do it all over again …
And before I end – one to watch ? Look out for FIDENDUM – yet to win, but he’s been improving with every run and has a bright future ahead of him.
Ebony Warrior owned by David & Jackie Adams winning at Warwick Racecourse in March!
