Monet's Garden Aintree Photos

[BillyHills]

As most are aware I went to Aintree on Saturday in search of the elusive photo of long time favourite Monets Garden, long story cut short but I have a gallery of racehorses I have snapped and a list of a few still to do, Monets was top of that list last season and we planned a couple of outings only to be thwarted by abandonments and other disasters, he was injured and retired and the opportunity seemed lost. Off the cuff i sent an email to the Nicky Richards stable asking how he was and explained my frustration on missing out on seeing him and they very kindly wrote back inviting me and Suzy up to the yard in the new year for a visit, only a week later the office contacted me and said Aintree had decided to name a race after him and he would possibly all being well health wise be parading before the race. We sent for tickets immediately and went along, and below are just a few of the 100 or so i took. We decided to bypass the race before so we could get a good position and wandered round to the pre-parade ring which for those that dont know Aintree is at the back of the weighing room well out of the way from the public, we were waiting patiently and with only the two of us there Monets Garden was brought in followed by Master Minded, it was terrific to see him at last. A few minutes later we looked behind us to see trainer Nicky Richards standing alone, Suzy went over to him and explained we had came especially to see Monets, he immediately took Suzy into the parade ring and brought the horse over to her, the photo i got is below. I cant begin to tell you how Suzy felt after that. I dont think the Sir Michael Stoutes of this world would have done that and thats why i love the jump racing far more than the flat stuff, yes Frankel may be the best thing since sliced bread but only for a year or two at most, these NH horses are with us from their novice hurdling days and we can follow their careers until they retire, they are much more approachable and we feel we know them personally. We were in the winners enclosure when Big Bucks won at Cheltenham this year and that was very emotional, yesterday to us was even better and he didnt even run. Ive included a few other shots, the action ones are not great, i was too far away and didnt go for them anyway, i took them from the stands and didnt go down to the fences. Hope you enjoy them anyway:ok 1. Monet's Garden in the pre-parade ring Uploaded with ImageShack.us 2. Monet's parading in the paddock Uploaded with ImageShack.us 3. The picture that made Suzy's day/year/life! Big thanks to Nicky Richards Uploaded with ImageShack.us 4. Master Minded Uploaded with ImageShack.us 5.Ruby Walsh on Master Minded Uploaded with ImageShack.us 6. AP on Albertas Run Uploaded with ImageShack.us 7. Rumble Of Thunder beating Dance For Julie in the first race. Uploaded with ImageShack.us 8. Albertas Run leads Master Minded in the Old Roan Chase Uploaded with ImageShack.us 9.Flinty Bay jumping the last in the Novice Chase Uploaded with ImageShack.us 10. The smack that got Ruby into trouble on board Edgardo Sol, Sam Twiston-Davies on the runner up The Cockney Mackem Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Trotter]

Re: Monet's Garden Aintree Photos Cheers BH !.........that's terrific I bet suzy was 'over the moon' !..............:nana There was a long interview with Nicky Richards before racing on RUK and he came over as a really top bloke...........your story confirms that indeed he is.