Rose Dobbin is set to saddle her first runners since April at Perth Monday as her Hazelrigg yard belatedly gets the chance to build on a breakout season
The Northumberland trainer’s horses were laid low by a respiratory virus for much of the 2018-19 campaign. However, frustration and disappointment have now been replaced by a sense of optimism that better times are ahead.
Dobbin sent out 25 winners during the 2017-18 season and amassed more than £200,000 in win and place prize money – all career-best figures.
Speaking at her annual owners’ day on Sunday, Dobbin said: “We’re back with our first runners of the season tomorrow at Perth and the whole team is really excited. What happened last season with a virus has been well-documented.
“However, since drawing stumps in the spring, we’ve undergone a rigorous programme of anti-contamination procedures and given the horses plenty of time off to recover.
“After the excellent season we enjoyed in 2017-18, we really thought that would be a platform to kick on to the next level. To be denied that opportunity was extremely frustrating. However, the people I’m most disappointed for are the owners.
"I’d like to put on record just how amazingly supportive they’ve been through this. They’ve been extremely understanding and patient and I can’t thank them enough.”
Dobbin believes the events of the last 12 months may actually prove a positive for some of her highly-regarded young horses.
She added: “We give our younger horses plenty of time to strengthen and mature anyway, but the fact they had a lighter time of things than usual won’t have done them any harm.
“We’ve got a really good team of younger horses, probably our biggest and best yet, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them show their true colours in the months ahead.”
Lady London (2.35) and California Soul (4.10) are Dobbin’s two runners at Perth.
Of their chances, she said: “California Soul is returning from a long time off with a tendon injury, so we expect him to come on for the run. Lady London loves going right-handed and went very close at Perth last year. She seems in good order at home.
“The horses all look great, they’ve come back into an immaculate yard and they are working nicely. We’ve done everything that we possibly can to get things right. I’ll be a wee bit anxious to see them run, which is understandable when we’ve been out of action for as long as we have. But I’m cautiously optimistic that we can have a really good season.”
