LBG's Trip To Newcastle!

An early morning in the North was met with the news of a precautionary inspection at Newcastle. As English people always do, the classic peer out of the window and announcing ‘ah it doesn’t look too bad’. How wrong I was.

Five of us made the journey from Durham, meeting the other three at the track. The ten-metre journey from the Uber to the O&T area was pretty hostile, just the start of what we knew could be a wet day out. Great British Racing kindly joined us to do some filming for the day. I was given the opportunity to wear Meta glasses throughout, which, to be honest, I probably got a bit carried away with. 

Lunch was served for the team, which went down a treat, as did a couple of pints (obviously not for me). We made the trip to the saddling area where Josh met us before saddling LBG. He was turned out brilliantly and looked great, helped by the fact he is a real looker. 

The short journey over to the parade ring resulted in a few comments on the harsh conditions, before parking up in the nearly waterlogged area. A short wait for jockey Ben Smith as LBG strutted around us. As ever, Ben delivered a very clear plan - be prominent as not many are coming from behind, try to stay wide on the fresh ground, and see what happens over the new trip in the conditions. As easy as that. He got the leg up and we made our way to the top of the stand.

Due to the high winds, the big screen wasn’t up which created a bit of a predicament around viewing. As such, we watched the start of the race on the TV inside. In Ben’s own words, the pair were ‘murdered away’ after the flag dropped, but made up ground to sit in fourth. Everyone piled outside as they went past us for the first time. Three of them went off in front, including the eventual winner, leaving LBG in a five length fourth. As they went down the back on their final circuit, LBG began to feel the pinch and Ben gave him a couple of reminders. He got tired pretty quickly and Ben rightly pulled him up before two out.

 The team congregated in the unsaddling area to get the lowdown. Ben complemented the addition of the cheekpieces and tongue tie which allowed him to travel for the first lap, but the bottomless ground really got to him after that, affecting his wind and completely ruining his chances. A great assessment from the conditional jockey. We headed back inside with a further debrief from Josh, followed by members doing interviews with Great British Racing. 

Pints in hand, we all headed into the lounge area for the last couple of races. A few winning bet slips were produced before we decided to all back the same horse, Parish Star, in the last. A loss of light got in the way of viewing but our 9/2 shot ranged up to the long-time leader as they jumped the second last. It looked certain he’d go passed but the leader pulled out a couple more lengths on the field and the hope left the room. That was until Parish Star started eating up the ground, joining the leader on the line which was followed by some pretty impressive celebrations from the team. Money collected and feeling like we’d just won the lottery, we rolled into Newcastle and straight to the pub for a healthy amount of drinks. By far the smartest looking people there, especially with a strong showing of the URC tie. All in all, a cracking day had by everyone!