Cheltenham 2009

Cheltenham 2009 once again showed that this sporting occasion can hold its place with any of the great occasions in any sport. The Olympics of horse racing provided that unique mixture of elation and heartbreak that only the Cheltenham Festival can.

2009 will be remembered for Kauto Star regaining his chasing crown in emphatic style, for a hugely impressive haul of winners by Irish trainers, for Ruby Walsh catapulting Horse Racing from the back pages to the front page headlines, for Barry Geraghty showing why he is such a good big race jockey, for Willie Mullins ability to get horses ready for the big occasion and for that sea of Red and White which accompanied Forpadydeplasterer into the sacred turf of the winners enclosure with trainer Tom Cooper raised shoulder high by his band of merry supporters.

However, Cheltenham 2009 will also be remembered by those who attended, that despite the doom and gloom of the economy, there is a belief in Horseracing that these hard times can be overcome and the light at the end of the tunnel is drawing closer. Yes, it has been tough and will continue to be for a while yet, but as long as owners dream and trainers believe in their horses, Cheltenham and the Horseracing Industry in particular can survive and inspire people to get on with the business of living. In good times Cheltenham has a way of bringing us back down to earth and in tougher times Cheltenham has once again shown that it is ok to dream and hope, better than that, Cheltenham inspires you to make sure that in 2010 you become a part of this fantastic industry.

PEAK BLOODSTOCK at CheltenhamAintree/Punchestown:

Cheltenham 2009 provided PEAK BLOODSTOCK with ample opportunity to show that we can be of invaluable support to owners and trainers in horseracing. River Liane was thrown in at the very deep end of the Champion Hurdle, where conditions and a scorching pace put pay to any hope of winning, however this is a horse with lots of ability and for a young horse the experience of running in such a big race will stand to him in the future. He has already finished 3rd in a Grade 1 race and will only improve next season. Perhaps a trip to France for Eamon and Valerie Courtney with Tom Cooper and River Liane for the French Champion Hurdle could be the next step.

Solwhit has shown this season that he can mix it with the best when winning his Grade 2 hurdle at Gowran and all eyes turn to his next race participation. Aintree or Punchestown could figure prominently in his trainers mind, and congratulations also to Charles Byrnes on his great win with Weapons Amnesty at Cheltenham.

Baracas, trained by Eoin Griffin and owned by Ray Stokes showed a nice touch of class when winning his bumper at Dundalk recently. He looks a horse for the future and has many possible targets in his sights for the remainder of this season.

Divy, trained by George Baker and owned by Pat Delaney also enhanced his reputation when scoring easily in his second bumper at Plumpton recently. Certainly Divy is a horse for the future but winning his bumper in such emphatic style has already brought great joy to the owner and trainer. Sean saw and bought Divy at the Arqana sales in France, and despite reservations from many observers, he felt strongly that Divy had the necessary qualities to make a winning racehorse. Another example of Sean’s eye for a good horse.

PEAK BLOODSTOCK are also looking forward to the imminent return of The Last Derby, Kendor Dine, No Full and many others over the remaining festivals.

French Bred Festival Winners:

An interesting statistic from Cheltenham 2009 was that Ireland had a huge haul of trained winners, however another statistic which was not un-noticed was the amount of these which were French Bred and indeed, the amount of big race winners over the festival that are French Bred.

Kauto Star, Master Minded and Big Bucks provided the winner of the featured races on 3 days, while Quevega, Mikael d’Haguenet, Chapoturgeon, Zaynar, Oh Crick, Something Well’s and Garde Champetre were other French bred winners.

Winners sourced from March to June

So, 10 French Bred Winners in total and an interesting note to potential buyers in this market is that 8 of these winners were sourced during the months of March to June. This is the time of year in France when PEAK BLOODSTOCK are at their most vigilant sourcing horses for next season. The racing in France gets more competitive from early March as the class horses from the meetings at Pau meet with those who are trained for the start of the season at Auteuil. Be under no illusion, the champions of next years Cheltenham and future Cheltenhams are currently running at the tracks such as Auteuil and Enghien.

PEAK BLOODSTOCK are currently travelling to France at least once every 2 weeks in effort to secure some nice horses for owners in Ireland and the UK. On these trips we are accompanied by trainers and owners looking to buy the potential stars of next season and if you wish to join us, please just let us know.

PEAK PERFORMANCE LTD:

The PEAK PERFORMANCE product update includes news of the addition to our range of a new copper formulation; COPPERFAST. Copper gel in a syringe with added Selenium, Vitamin E & Zinc. The current offer (Buy 2 boxes get one box free) means you pay an excellent price for an excellent product – only €7.33 per syringe!

Those of you who have yet to see the positive effects of EQUI-PEAK are definitely missing out! According to trainer Tom Cooper it “allows me to train my horses harder, for longer– watch them respond and recover quicker. Forpadydeplasterer is currently on this supplement and we all know how well he has done this season.”

For horses lacking in condition – see the improvement in just a few days!

For horses recuperating after veterinary treatment - try EQUI-PEAK as part of veterinary care.

Current offer price per ten day course (Buy 3 boxes get one box free) is €60.00 per course.

Remember; the range of PEAK PERFORMANCE products is formulated using only the best ingredients which yield the best results for ailments and situations which may occur in any yard - and we use them in our own yard.

We’re delighted to be able to offer exceptional savings on the whole PEAK PERFORMANCE range and remember, ordering any products in bulk will always yield additional savings so if you don’t see want you need – ask us; we can manufacture an exclusive product for you to your own specification.

If you would like to join the long list of satisfied PEAK PERFORMANCE customers, contact the PEAK sales team today on 053 91 35757 or visit the web site: www.peak.ie to place your order.

Garryhack House/Pre-Training/Rest and Recouperation

The rates for horses staying at Garryhack House will continue to remain at a very competitive level.

We would like to thank our current customers for their support and invite new customers to avail of our superb facilities and care.

The rates remain unchanged at:

Pre-Training -€25 per day

Handling-€25 per day

In & Out-€15 per day

At Grass-€12.50 per day

Stabled/ Rehab-€15 per day

If you need any further information on our rates or wish to avail of our competitiveness, please contact Sean or Viva on 053 9135333.

Horses for Sale:

PEAK BLOODSTOCK continues to strive towards providing quality horses at value prices for current and new clients. We currently have a number of well bred and good looking 2yo, 3yo and 4yo NH horses at our yard in Killinick which are for sale. These are horses which will be ready for next season and following seasons.

For further details on the above or if you would prefer a horse with current racecourse form please contact us at our office on 053 9135333, by mobile on 087 2484633 or email at info@peakbloodstock.com.

New Additions

Sourcing horses over the Winter months has proved very successful recently and we have been able to provide some new owners with some very nice horses. We recently sourced a smart type named Royal Collonges, a half brother to the Grade 1 winner Neptune Collonges, along with Queiros Bleu and 2 other unraced horses for one of our new owners. We would like to wish all concerned the very best of luck and look forward to seeing these potential champions perform in Ireland in the near future.

We look forward to hearing from you and wish all our customers the best of luck over the next few months.