owned by the Collective DreamersELEGANT OLIVE
FOR SALE 9 year old brown mare by Alflora, out of Strong Cloth
owned by the Collective Dreamers
Follow this link to see Elegant Olive's career in the Racing Post form database: RACING POST FORM
Keen to interject with her account of the account - Huntingdon August Bank Holiday 2011
Dec11: Win number two comes on Boxing Day, with Olive being very co-operative for a new rider (Killian Moore, crucially able to do the minimum weight), and having a shorter race (2m 5.5f) run to a pace that she liked, which was not guaranteed. She had the race won at the third last, barring something bizarre, and sauntered home at her favourite course - Huntingdon. She has unfortunately leapt from a handicap mark permanently in the 80s to 100 as a result of this. An amazing feat for an experienced mare just about to turn nine years old. Sorry, could not find the official sarcasm font.
Oct11: Another place at her favourite field on the edge of East Anglia. Again she just did not see out the 3m 2f distance in a bigger field that ensures a fast run race, but was still only beaten a length. She has developed an inconvenient kink to her jumping technique, so a bit more schooling work will be done before the long awaited chase debut.
Aug11: Bounced back to form with a third at Huntingdon - where else? She got a little outpaced on ultra-fast ground, and her stamina suffered for spending too long going at top speed. Absolutely perfect good ground would generate the ideal pace and conditions. She has since schooled over fences, with very encouraging results.
Post race on a warm day at Newton Abbot in August 2011 - quite pleased with herself and certainly more like the usual Olive than after runs in May and June
A more business-like (but slightly snooty?) attitude at Stratford (July 2010)
The water is cool, refreshing and shallow, but having seen one too many Robin Hood films, Elegant Olive suspects a trap
Olive, already convinced that she is queen of all she surveys, inspects her domain - the yard...
Jan11: FIRST WIN GAINED! It was at her favourite course, Huntingdon, but the ground was on the soft side for her and mid-race she was not going at all well. Dave Bass was riding (vindicating the decision not to switch to a jockey with less experience but a few pounds to claim) and he kept nudging away, and once she passed them, most of the oppo began to toil. Leading two out, she had a couple breathing down her neck until the line, but bravely refused to give in. Splendid.
Nov10: Had her nearest miss yet at Hereford, losing a 3m 2f handicap by a neck. In advance we were concerned that the ground would not suit, but it turned out to be just fast enough, and when she went on turning for home, it look very much as if that win was coming. Alas, alack. She stumbled on landing at the final hurdle and nearly tipped Hadden over her neck, but he recovered, dragged her back into action, and reported that and extra half furlong or so would have been enough to get back up. Drat and double drat, as a wise, but unscrupulous, man often cursed.
Jul10: She has been a bit stop/start in the last few months, but made a very pleasing return to action at Stratford, where she dead-heated for third over a trip a touch on the short side. For a while, she threatened that a win was coming, but it just did not quite pan out. Her each-way supporters were left to work out there winnings for a dead heat for a place (i.e. full odds to half the stake), with a 5p Rule 4 deduction for a withdrawn horse as well. Let nobody say that racegoing is not a mental exercise as well as fresh air!
Jun08: Made a satisfactory hurdling debut at Towcester, where she struggled with the very stiff finish, but otherwise did well, and handles fast ground well enough to keep on the go through the summer.
Dec08: Has since run twice at Huntingdon, managing a third and a sixth. The latter was a better race, but she may also have been feeling the effect of three races in fairly quick succession for an inexperienced mare.
Nov08: Olive had a bit of a 'mare on her debut, as she took umbrage on Felix de Giles landing behind the saddle when we went to get him on board (her fault, she lurched forward), and Olive then decided she was uncertain that Felix was the man for the job, and declined all attempts to get him on board, even in a more secluded spot than the paddock. She was withdrawn. The follow up was at Hereford, and despite one or two nerves in the race, she kept on from the back to finish third. When she has the confidence to attack the gaps, rather than be bemused why the others would want to squeeze in tightly, she can do even better.
Oct08: She has been named Elegant Olive, as first choice Go With The Flow was already in use - by a 12 year old who last ran in 1999.
Jul08: A new arrival from Sheila Crow, Olive, as she has been nicknamed, is a half-sister to Supreme Gift, who was placed in a bumper for the Collective Dreamers a few years ago. Being cut from the same cloth (chortle) as her sister, Olive has not been entirely straight forward so far, and had a couple of nasty accidents along the way when misbehaving. However, a spell of softly-softly coaxing, plus cunning trickery, worked the oracle with Supreme Gift, and we will adopt the same tactics to get Olive in the zone. Quinton has been working with her to date, and she now trusts him almost entirely - now that just has to be extended to the rest of the human race!
Her grand-dam Dishcloth was a Cheltenham festival winner, and had colic not intervened, Supreme Gift showed a good attitude on course, so we are hoping the genes have been passed on to Olive.
Meanwhile, away from the catwalk, Olive is a more sociable type, admiring the Fuji Finepix A330, and the way it still manages to catch her stylish rug, despite the broken zoom