Clear Height representatives ran well in August, although we only posted 1 winner, which was a meaningful one as it was our first 2 year old winner for some time!

DIAMOND CHARLIE won in great style at Folkestone under Seb Sanders.  We have always held this colt in high regard and he could have a big future in front of him.

Also this month Invincibility made a very promising debut at Kempton, again with Sanders in the saddle and this horse has finally come to hand over the last few months. 

Mustakmil was arguably the unluckiest runner of the month, just failing at Kempton under William Buick and being beat into third by the minimum of distance – he remains progressive and has a bright future ahead of him.

Ubiquitous deserves credit for a gutsy third in the mist at Brighton, whilst her brother Recalcitrant just failed to win the handicap at Lingfield he had won in 2009, under a bold front running ride from Simon Pearce.

Out of the Storm continued in the right direction with a third at Brighton and then ran creditably from an awful draw in her Nursery debut at Lingfield and should win soon.

Christmas Aria – a striking colt by Oratorio – was a fair third in a decent Lingfield Maiden on ground that was too soft for him and is another that is going in the right direction.

The Epsom Trainers’ Open Day took place on Sunday 22^nd August and despite a discouraging weather forecast there was the usual good turnout.  Many people enjoyed visiting the stables and the vast majority of horses seemed to enjoy the attention.

The afternoon’s events took place over at the racecourse.  I enjoyed my inaugural race on a camel and my stead and I were happy to make up the numbers!  Going much faster than I did was the pictured Shetland Pony above, sponsored by the Devine family who fairly whizzed in to win the Shetland Pony Derby.  It was a wonderful moment to see the famous colours carried by Chief’s Song in the winners’ enclosure at Epsom.

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Terry Shepherd

After a long illness, incredibly bravely fought by Terry, he sadly passed away on 4^th July and will be greatly missed by us all.  Lesley would very much like to thank everyone for their kindness, messages of support and also for the generous donations sent in Terry’s memory.

“I first met Terry in 1993, initially as a client but very soon we became great friends too. Many things stand out in my mind about that first meeting but specifically I remember him wearing the brightest and most outrageously coloured shirt ever seen North of Hawaii!

At this time I didn’t realise that he owned a whole wardrobe full of these things which he wore with panache and style to different race meetings and parties all over England and even to the South of France.

Terry’s deep affection and fascination with horse racing, as is so often the case in life for those who dare to participate, was a roller coaster of experiences, rewarded with success and failure.  We enjoyed many tremendous days but soon I started to realise that whilst winning was vital, what Terry enjoyed  as much was having fun with his friends and being out and meeting people.

Only recently we met for dinner and although the colour of the shirt was slightly lighter I realised that of course it was not the shirt which was relevant nor had it ever been, it was the charisma of the man inside it. His energy, warmth, enthusiasm and sense of fun remained as strong as ever, much aided by Lesley of course his dignity preserved his pride intact”.

Simon