An exciting start to the season for Team Fox-Pitt!

So here we are at the end of March and the winter seems well behind us.  We have done plenty of team training, show jumping and dressage and all of the horses have now had their first run of the season.  Things are progressing well.



William has his full team
ready for start of the season



After various delays we were very happy to have our full team of staff in place just in time for the first event. Olivia Loiacono and Kelly Prather, both four-star riders from USA, have joined us as riders for the 2012 season.  Olivia has come with her horse, Subway, and is aiming for Badminton while Kelly will be competing a couple of my younger horses.  They have settled in and the team seems to be working very well together which is always a relief.

The 2012 season started well at Moreton with everyone more or less behaving themselves.  I had a busy day with two in the Open BE100 and three in the Novice – nothing like jumping in at the deep end after the winter break!  They were all a little fresh in their dressage tests but jumped well and I picked up our first points and prizes for the year with Dubai Cruise finishing 3^rd in his Novice section (a new ride for me this season) and Blue River finishing 5^th in his Open BE100 section, so I couldn’t have been happier. Sadly, the first abandoned event came in the first weekend of the season as Moreton had to cancel their second day due to heavy overnight rain.  This meant the two youngsters in the BE100 would have to wait to make their season debuts – quietly I was rather relieved as conditions would have been no fun!

Off to a flying start at Moreton



From Moreton we headed to Tweseldown, although this year only for two days which made a nice change.  Driving through the gates of Tweseldown racecourse has become somewhat of a habit in March and I shocked my team by announcing that this was the 29^th successive year I had made the journey.  A lot of laughter followed!  The novice horses were a little more settled from their run at Moreton and Dubai Cruise improved again to win his section.  A relief to get the first win under our belt!  The others I took a little steadier but all jumped double clear.  I had five of the older horses in the Intermediate and Open Intermediate and again I couldn’t have been happier with how they went.  Gaucho has come out feeling really great this year and jumped a super double clear.  Blair CCI* winner Before Time was having his first outing for new owner Mandy Gray.  He was a little fresh and rolled a pole show jumping but jumped a super but steady clear across country. Deli Star Hero (another new ride for me this year) and Bay My Hero were both unlucky to have a fence down show jumping but gave me lovely rides across country and Avoca Alibi, who has done really well this winter, jumped a lovely double clear to finish 8^th.

It was then time for Cheltenham.  Although a busy time of year I always try to get a day off to support Alice (my wife is a presenter for Channel 4 racing) and I had the luxury of being a guest in Mark Corbett’s box on the Wednesday.  It was superb racing and is always great to catch up with friends.  However the party was short lived and I headed off to Aldon on Friday with the younger lot.  Dubai Cruise impressed again, picking up 10 time penalties across country yet still finishing 3^rd in his Novice section and consequently upgrading to intermediate.  I will hand the ride over to Kelly for the rest of the season and she should have some fun with him.  Goldsmiths Enzo seems to have really grown up this winter and I was delighted with his 2^nd in the BE100.  He is a horse I bought as a 3yr old and being so big we have bought him on very slowly and he is another who Kelly will get to have a bit of fun with.  Freddie Mac and Blue River both rolled a pole show jumping and I didn’t rush them across country but was pleased with how they went. 

Olivia was having her first run in the UK with her horse Subway.  After all the stress getting her and her horse here, it is good to have got them off the mark.  He was a little fresh and very pleased to be at a party but her schedule is at least now on track for Badminton – let’s just hope, now that her entry is accepted.

On that note, Rolex and Badminton entries are in and so now it really feels like we are back into the swing of things properly.  Parklane Hawk I hope will head to Kentucky and at the moment it is looking like Seacookie & Neuf Des Coeurs will head to Badminton.

The weekend before last saw my five main horses have their first outing.  Seacookie was a little tense in the dressage but jumped a super clear show jumping.  He was having his first run for 10 months and is a little behind the others so I decided not to run him across country.  Oslo was first in at 8.30am but performed a lovely test to lie 2nd.  He jumped a superb clear show jumping and I didn’t rush him across country but he finished a good 3^rd.  I was delighted with Neuf Des Coeurs, he did a fantastic test to score 26.4 and lead his section.  He then jumped a good double clear but again I didn’t rush him across country and he finished just outside the top ten.  Parklane Hawk and Lionheart both did nice tests and rolled a pole show jumping but gave me excellent rides across country.

Oslo- unimpressed with his early start!

It is great to have the season well underway and exciting times lie ahead.   Next we are heading off to Gatcombe, Somerley, Belton and Burnham Market and it is scary to think it is just 4 weeks to the first CCI4* of the year – Kentucky Rolex.