race horse

J W Mullins - racehorse trainer

news

Yard News:3rd September

All our older horses to come into training this Winter are now back at Wilsford and they all have done well at grass this Summer. It is nice to have all our old favourites like Terrible Tennant (Freddy) and Kawagino back again to get ready for our main Winter campaigne. Some new horses have arrived this week including Hill Forts Timmy's half brother and Mrs Fay Hewetts nice Alflora mare Time To Think which was an inmate of Robert and Sally Alner's last year. Speaking of Robert, I had lunch with the Alner's and Andrew Thornton yesterday at the Kings Arms ( East Stour) and it was good to see them both in super form. Andrew still has his broken left arm in a cast and will be laid up for at least another month.

The young horses that we have broken in this Summer (10 in all) are a nice bunch and will appear at various times later in the year or next Spring. I will update you on their progress and their prospects later in the Autumn when we have done a bit more with them.

Jimmy Derham is still riding winners but has been overtaken in the conditional jockey's table by Sam Twiston-Davies. Wayne Kavanagh is back to full fitness now and will be looking for his first winner soon. Lucy Jones has completed her nine week course at the British Racing School and is back riding four lots a day.

The big Hurling final in Ireland between Kilkenny and Tipperary is being played in Dublin this Sunday.James and myself are off over for the craig to to see The Cats (Kilkenny)make history by winning their fifth in a row. If they win we may not return for a day or two as there might be some serious celebrating to be done!!

Seamus

Yard News:13th August

It is a very exciting time of year with all the horses new and old coming in from their Summer quarters. Most of the Winter horses are in three weeks now and are just starting to have their first canters this week. We have also brought back the Summer jumpers who had a short break and we should start to have some runners at the end of August. All the horses have done really well this Summer and we are pleased with our new recruits.

Wedding News...

It's happened! Wayne and Heather tied the knot in Brockenhurst last Saturday (7th Aug) on a beautiful day with all their guests enjoying a lovely reception and party afterwards. The Bride ( Heather not Wayne!) looked stunning and she even wore a beatiful looking dress to match the colour of the carriage that brought her to the Church and carried the happy couple away to their reception afterwards.Wayne was very calm throughout the ceremony and the speeches, even when Andrew(Lenzio) Thornton gave his account of Wayne's many fishing and riding escapadades. Having had a wonderful meal the tables were cleared away and then the serious partying began. All in all it was a wonderful day enjoyed by all the guests and it was a tribute to Wayne to see the wonderful turn out from Ireland by his family and friends.

We all wish them lots of luck for the future and plenty of Kavenagh's to look after them in their old age.

Yard News: 26th July

The yard is getting extremely busy with the winter horses coming back in.

Staffing has gone up and we have Amalie and Gemma joining the team, Amalie is studing to be a vet at Cambridge University and Gemma lives locally in the Woodford Valley and has good backround in eventing.

We are still waiting for the photos to come through from Wayne's stag night last Saturday which according to Jimmy was great craic !!!!!!

YARD NEWS: 16th JULY

No racing news this week as we have turned alot of our summer jumpers out for a couple of weeks to recharge their batteries. We are still painting and decorating the yard and upgrading our facilities around the schooling grounds. Alot of the 'winter horses' came back into work this week including some new horses to Wilsford. We have two new horses coming from the Alner yard this winter one or which is Might As Well belonging to Dr and Mrs John Millar arrived from his Summer quarters during the week.

Charlie Brown has come back safe and sound from her month in America and is as fit as a flea after riding lots of very smart horses each day and running 5 miles a day. She had a great time while working for Jonathan Sheppard (No. 1 Jumps trainer in the U.S.) and has some new ideas for us to try out at Wilsford.

YARD NEWS: 12TH July

We have two new members of staff joining the Wilsford team this month. Sonja Lucas who worked for us some years ago is returning to the fold as she has moved back into the area.

Darren O'Keeffe from Co. Cork has also joined us fresh from Dessie Hughe's yard. We welcome both of them to Wilsford and they will provided further experience and enthusiasm to our team.

11th July - Take A Mile and Alldunnandusted - Stratford

Not one of our more productive days today. Having driven to Stratford on a hot Sunday afternoon it was disappointing to have Take A Mile slip up on the flat as a result of this Seamus thought it was wise to declare Alldunnandusted as a non-runner.

7th July - Hampton Court - Worcester - 2 1/2 Mile Handicap Hurdle

Hammy was reverting back to hurdles after his two unsuccessful foray's over fences. Having not jumped with fluency throughout the race he ran on well enough to finish 5th in the 3 mile hurdle. Having chatted with Ray and the team members it has been decided to give him a holiday and bring him back next Autumn and try our luck over fences again.

7th July - Foreign King - Worcester -Novice Chase

Jerry jumped better and ran a solid race to finish 4th in the Novice Chase. He also will have a short holiday to freshen him up before the Autumn.

7th July - Landenstown Pearl - Worcester - Bumper

'Article' didn't get much room or luck running throughout this rough race and was unlucky not to win. She came with a good determined late run under Jimmy to just fail by 1/2 length. She actually dead heated for 2nd place which is very unusual these days of computer photo finishes and megapixels etc. We will try and win a bumper with her before we send her hurdling.

5th July - Armagnac Express - Newton Abbott - Mare's Novice Hurdle

Armagnac Express had her first run for us having jouined us last month after the sad death of her previous trainer the legandary John Duffose. She warmed to her jumping and mananged a credible 5th place.

5th July - Cold Mountain - Newton Abbott - 31/4 Mile Handicap Chase

Chilly under a confident ride by Jimmy produced an excellent run up the home straight to land the feature race of the day. 'Experts' Richard Pitman and Tom Malone of Attheraces didn't give him much chance on T.V. before the race and an SP of 9/1 showed that the punters thought likewise. But Chilly and Jimmy were always traveling well and jumping neatly to win comfortably. He will have the rest of this month off now and come back in September to try and keep the run of good luck going.

5th July - Frazers Fortune - Newton Abbott - Conditonal Jockeys Handicap Race

Safron Foster having brought Frazer at the dispersal sale of the later John Manners horses. She decided to let us have him for a month or two to see if she might have some fun with him Summer racing before she takes him hunting this Autumn. He jumped well and ran well enough until he got very tired turning for home and Jimmy pulled him up. He will now revert to the job he was brought for and lets hope he and Safron have lots of fun 'not' chasing foxes this Winter.

5th July - Forest Rhythm - Newton Abbott - Handicap Hurdle

Paddy ran a little disappointing in the 2 mile handicap hurdle but maybe he is in need of a holiday as he has been in training for a while now. The Handicapper may drop him a few pounds as 112 seems quite high for a horse who has only won one hurdle. ( hint hint Mr Greenwood)

 

YARD NEWS: 4th July

Charlie Brown is still in America and reports that she had a long car journey across the Country with three Irish jockeys in the car that made her feel right at home. We look forward to hearing all the stories when she returns next week.

On the home front we had a nice surpise yesterday when Wayne Kavanagh rode out for the first time since his latest shoulder injury. He rode two lots without any mishap and said it is all systems go now as soon as he gets passed fit by his surgeon later this week. We hope he has an injury free Season and rides plenty of winners. He and his fiance Heather Lucas get married on the 7th August at Brockenhurst so lets hope he stays in one piece until then at least!

Jimmy keeps booting home the winners and is still leading the conditional jockeys table at the moment. Sadly due to age (Jimmy turns 26 in September) he will not be able to continue his challenge for the top conditional of the year but it is great for him and the yard that he is having such a good start to the season.

23rd June- Nollaig Shona - Bath- Classified Stakes

Having finished 2nd on her previous outing at Bath Shona was fancied to run well but was a little disappointing to finish 3rd. Steve Drowne reported that she ran a little free to start with and then got tired in the finish. Maybe a bigger field and more patient tactics might help next time.

10th June - Hampton court - Fontwell - Handicap Chase

Having deposited at the first fence at Worcester on Sunday we decided to run 'Hammy' back quickly while the errors of his ways was still fresh in his mind. Under the superb handling of A. Thornton he put in a satifactory round of jumping and was only pulled up before the last due to tiredness and the fact that Andrew wished to end on a good note.

10th June - Cold Mountain - Fontwell - Handicap Chase

'Chilly' returned to chasing at his favourite track and put in an excellent round of jumping to score by 22 lengths in what looked like a very competative Handicap Chase. Jimmy rode him with patience and was able to forge clear up the home straight for a comprehensive victory.

10th June - Forest Rhythm - Fontwell - Novice Hurdle

'Paddy' could only manage to finish 3rd under his winning penalty mainly due to the lack of early pace and a subsequent sprint finish. Jimmy reported to the all the Members that he considered Paddy had run well enough but would be better suited to a faster early pace and possibly dropping back to 2 miles.

8th June- Landenstown Pearl - Southwell- Open National Hunt flat

The rain softened ground sadly was the undoing of this mare's winning chance.

8th June - Bushwacker - Southwell - Handicap chase

On the hole Bushwacker put in a better round of jumping but was unable to challenge the leaders and got very tired in the rain softened ground and was pulled up two from home. A drop back to 2 miles and faster ground looks to be what is required.

6th June - My Fella - Worcester - Beginners Chase

'Ed' jumped well throughout the race and was in 4th place when falling at the last due to tiredness.Thankfully horse and jockey were unscathed.

5th June - Lord Hugo - Worcester - Maiden Hurdle

Lord Hugo making his debut over hurdles jumped well throughout but was unable to stay competative in the latter stages and was pulled up.

5th June - Hampton Court - Worcester - Beginners Chase

No more can be said other than 'blundered' rider unseated at 1st. Oooops!

2nd June - Catch the Rascal - Fontwell- Hunt Flat

'Rosie' ran on well up the straight having lost her position mid-race to finish 5th