Maiden Outing for Samurai Sam

On Friday 9th February we had another pioneer outing for a young horse on the yard, this time at Kempton. Samurai Sam is a homebred, who was sent to us in June by owner/breeder Diedre Salmon. He had been broken in and was ready to learn to ways of the racing world! He is a 5 year old and still very green, but we felt it was time for him to run. It was a 12 runner bumper, and with Nick Scholfield aboard we felt the youngster was in the right hands for his maiden run despite the hot field. Samurai Sam, called Charlie at home, jumped off nicely and ran well before hitting a very soft patch where he lost action. Nick kept up to his work and Charlie soon, as he hit the better ground, ran on, finishing 10th and beating a very expensive horse of Jonjo O'Niell's. We knew the horse would prefer better ground but we were keen for him to gain the experience, before having a short break on the yard ahead of another outing.