No, I am not referring to a replacement for Mick McCarthy who has always struggled to completely win over the fans due to his dour personality and style of play. I am referring to Frank Sheridan who tomorrow becomes the latest trainer for Shropshire Wolves when he takes our latest acquisition Sumner in to his care at Averham Park near Newark in Nottinghamshire.
Frank has had a succesful career training in Italy before relocating back to England in 2008. The first year back here went well before his string found it difficult to shake off a virus at his previous base in Shropshire. Frank reports the string to be in rude health now and has already had his first winner from Averham Park.
Sumner had a succesful three year old campaign with Mark Tompkins before being purchased for £ 70,000 to go jumping, a sphere in which he struggled to shine and also obtained an injury which put him on the sidelines for a year. A spell at Kinsale Stud has put him spot on to resume his racing career which should hopefully be in early spring.
The Last Bottle should be ready to run again in about three weeks after his short setback, while Dr Mathias is reported in good order by Dave Evans and should be racing again in about four weeks.
It is hoped that a number of members will be able to visit Alan Swinbank's yard in early March when we have a stable visit combined with seeing our two year old at exercise and a possible racecourse day out. Should anyone wish to come on this visit please let me know and I will be able to give you more details.
I have managed to get a couple of action shots from Wolverhampton which are now in the gallery, these are courtesy of racecourse photographer Les Hurley, who would be happy to receive orders for any photographs of our horses.Should anyone want a particular photograph on a raceday it is best to arrange beforehand and Les will try to accomodate any request.
This is not a review of a film re-run for the umpteenth time on some obscure digital channel, or having seen the quality of programmes on these days possibly the BBC, but a short news update to report that Dr Mathias has returned to work at David Evans yard near Abergavenny after his winter holiday in Shropshire. The break has reportedly done him the world of good and he looks in excellent shape.
The Last Bottle had a setback over christmas with a muscular problem, the yard and surrounds have been badly affected by snow and ice recently and hopefully there will be an thaw in the next week allowing the horse to get back in to full exercise and getting his career back on track.
A small share is still available in Sumner who is due to start full training at the end of January. He will be trained by Frank Sheridan at Averham Park near Newark, which is a purpose built training facility with everything you would want on site for training racehorses and in a convenient location regarding transportation for summer flat racing.
