Thats racing for you!

Yesterday, we headed to the track with hopes of seeing two of our runners in action. It wasn’t all smooth sailing—but that’s the beauty (and chaos) of the sport we love! Here’s how it unfolded…

First up: Sonning at Carlisle.

After a challenging first run on the flat, trainer Mark Walford opted to switch things up and send Sonning hurdling. In many ways, this felt like the real start of his season—and as advised by Mark and Craig, we expected he might tire late on.

He travelled beautifully through much of the race, even looking the best of the bunch at one stage. As predicted, he took a blow a couple of fences out and began to fade, eventually finishing 8th of 8. But—only 12 lengths behind the winner and with Tom taking it easy on him towards the end—there’s plenty to be excited about. The way he moved through the race shows that a win shouldn’t be far away.

Next, Baby Rover… well—where do we start?

Let’s just say she’s full of character! Having been a little cheeky in the paddock recently, she was taken down early. Sean Kirrane was more than up for the challenge, and the race looked like a great opportunity for her next step forward.

Unfortunately, Baby Rover wasn’t too keen on entering the stalls at first. Quick thinking from Sean saw him jump off and coax her in—problem solved! But just as we got her settled, the well-backed favourite in the race decided it didn’t want to play ball. As time ticked on and Baby Rover grew increasingly upset, the starter made the (rather harsh) call to withdraw her from the race. A frustrating outcome for everyone involved—especially the owners and the team who travelled all that way. The good news: both Baby Rover and Sean are absolutely fine.

Despite the ups and downs, we’ve got plenty of exciting entries coming up as we continue our journey toward the milestone of 100 winners. True to form, we’ve had a steady start to the year, but confidence is high—we’ve got a strong team ready to hit their stride.

As always, a huge thank you to all our owners and staff for their continued support.

Make sure you’re following us on social media for updates—and keep an eye out for a new website page , launching in the next few days!

Happy Easter from all of us at URSA MAJOR RACING!