Blow The Budget Struggles At Kelso
On Sunday, January 14, 2024, Blow The Budget made a reappearance at Kelso Racecourse over the same trip (2m) as her debut for Claymore Racing, where she ran a really promising race back in third behind an above-average filly, WyeNot, who is now 2/2 over hurdles. On Sunday, we were hoping for a bit better ground; however, that wasn’t the case. Before the race, both Jack Power (Jockey) and Peter Scudamore mentioned that the ground wasn’t ideal. Jack reported after the race that the ground rode worse than expected. The ground was described by jockeys post-race as being sticky and that it just tore up underfoot. The opposite of what we were after.
Just one circuit in, it was evident that Blow The Budget (Tara) was struggling with the ground, and Jack mentioned she made a bit of sound midway through the back straight; however, nothing came up following her post-race checks. She ran with a tongue strap for the first time, but that didn’t make a difference. We were fighting a losing battle long before we could have known if that was the difference-maker we were after. One of the previous winners in the race, the Micky Hammond-trained Penpal, who broke her maiden in a handicap hurdle in May 2023 at Newcastle, pulled up four out just before the Sam England-trained Tessy Lad, who pulled up at the following hurdle, three out.
The winner, Silver Vision, went off at 25/1, the second, Lifetime Adventure, was 50/1, and the third, Chumlee, was 11/1, which highlights that those at the top end of the market didn’t take to the ground while some of the outsiders benefitted. It was a race that you could just put a line through; it wasn’t Tara’s true showing, and I would guess that the form will most likely turn out to be slightly false.
After discussing with Lucinda and Michael Scudamore, we think that it may be best to target the spring and summer months for her races, focusing on better ground, which she seems to be calling out for. We are confident that in these better conditions, she will demonstrate her full potential. We remain optimistic about her prospects, knowing she has the ability to pass the post in first if given her ideal race conditions!
