Finishing touches, Racing names, Big yearlings and Goodwood!
- Emris Racing
- Aug 2
- 3 min read
Hello everyone and welcome to another weekly blog!
We kicked things off with the syndicate poll to choose a racing name for our 3‑year‑old Passing Glance filly, affectionately known as Ellie. There were lots of thoughtful suggestions, and narrowing them down to four was no easy task. We wanted something that paid homage to her late sire Passing Glance, and every shortlisted name reflected that beautifully.
The winning choice, however, went one better—honouring both her sire and her dam, Flutter Bye. So I’m delighted to introduce: Just Passing Bye (GB)
We’ll still refer to her as Ellie day‑to‑day, of course.
She’s had the finishing touches put on her prep this week and heads over to Marcus Foley’s yard tomorrow for a week of jumping training. All being well, she’ll move on to Fergal O’Brien the following Monday. She’s cantering away happily, and the short break has done her the world of good.
Another who has really benefitted from her break is Silverhill Freya. She’s strengthened up noticeably over the last couple of months and looks fantastic. She’ll be joining Ellie at Marcus Foley’s tomorrow. Having already jumped fences in her PTP, her week will be more of a refresher than a learning curve.
She’ll head to Tom Lacey after that to begin her prep for her rules debut, which is now edging ever closer. I’m very happy with where she is.
We also made a trip to Charlock Stud this week to catch up with the three yearlings, all of whom are looking absolutely superb. We took approximate height measurements—and the results surprised me more than I expected!
Emma
Emma, our Tirwanako filly, is the youngest and has always been the smallest. Her development over the last six months has been brilliant; she’s built beautifully and now stands at 14.3hh, which I’m over the moon about.
Paul
Paul, our Logician colt, has always been the big lad of the group. He’s filling out nicely and is very much taking after his father. He’s now showing quite a bit of grey, especially on his belly, and his mane looks a million dollars. He measured 15.1hh.
Pam
The real surprise was Pam, our Order Of St George filly. She’s always appeared only slightly taller than Emma, perhaps due to her dark coat, but her measurement stopped me in my tracks—15.2½hh, making her the biggest of the three! A lovely surprise and a testament to her excellent conformation and condition.
We sent out more welcome packs at the end of the week and were very kindly invited by Carla at Charlock Stud to join them at Goodwood on Saturday. We were treated to a fantastic box overlooking the parade ring, complete with a lovely lunch and afternoon tea.
Goodwood is one of those quirky tracks with no hurdles or fences, so I’ll admit I was a little confused at first!
In all seriousness, the racing was excellent, and it was great to spend time with Graham and Carla away from the yard, as well as meeting Graham’s parents.
Carla’s homebred, Two Tribes, ran in the fourth and looked superb in the ring. Unfortunately, an incident at the start put paid to his chances, but I’ve no doubt he’ll be back and will win another decent race soon.
A huge thank you to Graham and Carla for the invite—it was a brilliant day.
Until next time!
