Newmarket Open Day - Review & Photos

[BillyHills]

I went to the Newmarket Open Day for the first time this year, something i have been meaning to do and finally the lure of Snow Fairy got me out of bed at 5am on Sunday morning and traveled up to HQ. Snow Fairy is a long story but she's a mare i always managed to miss throughout her career - photo wise. She is being packed off to Ireland soon to be covered by Elusive Pimpernel and this was my last chance to get a snap. Anyway, after walking the dogs we set off and arrived at NM at about 8.15, parked up at Severals, which is near the clock tower and handy for both the Gallops and Ed Dunlops place which was where the target was residing. Part One : The Gallops A few trainers advertised they would take some horses to Warren Hills gallops at 9am as they were not opening their yards, we had Godolphin, Gosden, Prescott, Simcock and Lady Cecil sending a few over to do the 4f gallop on the AW chute so i made my way over there. I was a tad disappointed as the photo view was not great as we had to stay well back and quickly realised i was only going to get shots of a dirty great running rail going right through every picture. As a photographer you dont want any rails in the way, you are never going to print any so its pretty pointless. Anyway i did shoot Ahzeemah just to see how it looked which you can see in the 'gallops' picture. Ok but it wont get used for anything. I moved down to the road crossing where all the horses were being brought and got some clean photos but identifying them wasnt easy as they had number cloths on but you couldnt hear the commentary from that point. Anyway one of the officials showed me the running order which i copied. On the way back we bumped into Premier Loco crossing the high street and Casper Netscher on his way back to the stables so that was lucky as i like both horses but overall i thought the Gallops was a bit of a let down personally. I didnt stay til the end as i wanted to get up to Ed Dunlops early to try and beat the rush. (He had 800 visitors last year!). I have put the photos in 'montages' as it's less to upload and easier to view, i will upload all of the images individually to my facebook page later if you want a better look at any, i'll put a link at the end. 1. Royal Empire, Pallasator, Premier Loco. Ahzeemah, Moment In Time, Caspar Netscher (Warren Hills gallops in background) Part 2 to follow :ok

[BillyHills]

Re: Newmarket Open Day - Review & Photos Part 2 : Ed Dunlop We walked up the Fordham Road which took about 10 minutes from the car and found Ed Dunlops place. As we walked up the drive we were greeted by the man himself which i didnt really expect but i suppose it was a chance to impress and he didnt disappoint. He asked us where we were from and we said we were there for Snow Fairy and he pointed us to box 56 where she was residing. Snow Fairy, Red Cadeaux, Times Up and Joshua Tree were being paraded at 10.30 but just wanted to try and get some photos in before then in her box. Anyway we found box 56, which is not as easy as it sounds, there is well over 100! The owner of Snow Fairy was in town and she was at the box so that was nice too and after some persuasion the mare finally put her head over the stable door so we could see her. Apparently since she retired all she does is eat, eat and eat again and is not really bothered that some guy has come to stick a camera in her face. We had a couple of minutes on our own with her which was number one target achieved and Suzy was over the moon that she got to pat her and have her picture took. Some of you will not understand how relieved i was at this point, its been a long haul and the pressure was off. We made our way around the yard which i have to say is both massive and beautiful, full of character and spotless, it looks like its well and truly a place to have a horse. We found Amazing Maria who was indoors and couldnt get a photo, very nervous. We moved on to Red Cadeaux, Times Up, Burwaz and the Joshua Tree who proved that the signs which said this horse will bite was not there for show. JT took a lunge at Suzy and now she has a lovely bruise on her upper arm which has a Joshua Tree tattoo stuck on it. You could wander around the tack room, the vets place and anywhere else and one guy was explaining all the food the horses get, it was quite funny as in amongst all these buckets of different feeds there was a bottle of Ribena. One person asked why that was on the table and apparently its to mix with some of the medicine as it tastes very bitter and Ribena sweetens it up and the horses then will accept it. We visited the cake stall and grabbed a cup of tea from the trainers daughters and then went down to the private parade ring to get a good position. Crowds were building and to my surprise i was the only one who went to the far side which gave me a great view of Snow Fairy walking towards me with the owner. The four horses were taken inside the ring and Ed Dunlop invited the spectators inside too and we able to mingle with the horses and got some great close up shots. We were warned not to get too close to Joshua Tree, i wonder why? I have to say it was a very good experience and the trainer deserves a bit of credit here, everyone felt welcome and the access was spot on. I went to 3 yards and this was a mile in front as you will see later. First photo is just the yard and tack room etc... Snow Fairy in the centre plus top right. Times Up top left. Joshua Tree bottom left, Red Cadeaux close up. Part 3 to follow