John Wainwright Stable Visit, November 2023
An end of the year get together.
Members of the John Wainwright Racing Club descended on the Granary House stable of trainer John Wainwright for an end of season catch up and a final chance to see their horse Elettaria up close and personal this year.
The racing club has enjoyed a brilliant year in 2023 with their gutsy filly and plenty of reminiscing of her two victories this year took place between members. At the start of the year, Elettaria had shown promise in her races as she began to adjust to life up north. A breakthrough moment for the club took place at Carlisle where Elettaria roared up the stiff uphill finish to cross the line a winner for the first time. The celebrations would go into the night for the delighted and proud owners. The winning feeling would be replicated once again at Newcastle in September, where in similar style, Elettaria was last to challenge but first to cross the line to provide the club with their second win.
The four year old filly is currently enjoying a break over the winter as her first race this year was as early as New Year's Day 2023. She may not be a superstar in terms of her rating, but she is a superstar to her owners and the images of that first win will live long in the memory of the racing club members.
Signs of a resurgence
For the second year in a row, the talents of John Wainwright have shone through and the stable has begun to make people sit up and take notice once again. 2022 saw one of the yard's best seasons in terms of winners with an admirable strike rate of runners to winners and 2023 was more of the same. The yard has seen listed race winners housed in these stable boxes and with a bit of luck, higher profile owners could return with better quality runners. Stable star Biplane, a well bred cast-off from the Juddmonte operation, enjoyed a very good season with two wins on the turf and finishing second in the "Leger Legends" race during the St Leger Festival at Doncaster. The Wainwright name returned to Pattern company as the mare took in the listed Gainsborough Stakes at Redcar. She may have been outclassed, but it would have been a thrill for the small family team to have such a runner in such a valuable race. She is set to leave the stable in pursuit of her new career as a broodmare, but she played her part in elevating the stable.
Another filly displayed the benefit of Wainwright's training skills, the prolific winner Dandy's Angel. A tough and hardy sort who always tried her best, her career going into 2023 had yielded just two wins and plenty of placings. By the end of the season though, her win tally had quadrupled after a very productive season. A winner at Beverley earlier in her career, Dandy's Angel would be a regular visitor to the Westwood. June would see the first of a winning streak for Dandy's Angel as she battled bravely to get her nose in front and the good form continued with some consistent displays. Another win took placed at Carlisle before the daughter of Dandy Man would land three more races through the summer at the East Yorkshire venue. She would be crowned "queen of the Westwood" with a total of four wins and three podium placings throughout 2023.
It's not just fillies in which Wainwright excels with, his patient approach works wonders with veteran horses and national hunt horses. The evergreen ten year old Muatadel belied his years to run well at his level through the year and similarly, Kraken Florida was another to win through the year. The well loved Bobby Shaft has been nursed back to full health and showed promise in his two starts since injury layoff. The giant Living's Boy An Co is an ex Irish-trained chaser and won by a huge margin at the end of 2022. The mare Onestepatatime is another course specialist in the stable as she has won at Sedgefield on three occasions now.
