Harry bullish too
BLOG 29 – Monday, February 29
A triumph for Zubayr and team
A month ago if a man had wandered into the yard and told us Zubayr was going to win the Adonis and then be second favourite for the triumph hurdle Paul would have probably asked me to escort the deluded and clearly half cut man back to the pub. We would have laughed about it and carried on with our day. Such is the skill of my boss though, Zubayr did exactly that.
When Zubayr arrived in high summer after being victim of a bidding war that will go to the grave with Tom Malone, we all fell in love with him (Zubayr that is). A stunning horse physically, who couldn't have moved better if he had wings strapped to his perfectly formed back. With horses however, you soon learn that things aren't always simple.
Having conned Zubayr into taking a substance that would make him sleepy for a few hours, we unkindly whipped his manhood out and went about making him into the juvenile hurdler we dreamt he would be.
Months later we have now seen what he is capable of, but the road has been anything but smooth. He always had the right attitude towards his training but physical problems held him back time after time, in fact there have been a number of occasions we could have drawn stumps with him this season. He always just showed Paul enough though, and after a gallop and great schooling session in the week Paul went for it and declared him at Kempton.
Zubayr is a success story for patience and for the talented people involved with him. From Jane Farwell who rides him everyday at home, Clifford who has watched over all his day to day routines and Nick Scholfield for teaching him to jump so well. Everyone has played a big part in that win on Saturday and I can't wait to see him in the Triumph.
The people who I was most thrilled for on Saturday though was Mr and Mrs Vogt, the owners of Zubayr. You always look back and say what a good buy a horse was when they win, but it was a brave purchase from the Vogt's and I'm so so thrilled to see them have a potentially top class horse, they are wonderfully enthusiastic and it's a pleasure to see them having success.