Bonfire Night - life as a racehorse

the start

After many twists and turns Bonfire Night has luckily grown into a good-looking 2-year-old (see above; photo taken at Oldendorf Stud, 18/05/08). In order to keep Bonfire Night in training we have recruited some of the the family and some good friends and formed a little syndicate; Bonfire will run in the colours of "Stall Power Flame", just as his mum Belle Fee did. Bonfire has joined Christian Sprengels yard in Hannover on saturday, june 1st, and now has to settle into the daily routine to become a proper racehorse. He misses his friends and feels a bit lonely at the moment, but the staff are happy with him and like him a lot. A small paddock injury means some quiet days in the horsewalker anyway, before work with the saddle will start again. Its early days to speculate about whether he will be able to run this season (as is always the case with 2 yr-olds),so we will let Bonfire do the talking on that matter.
Unfortunatly there are no photos from his first day in the yard as our car broke down on the way to Hannover!! :(

june 2008

Bonfire joined Christian Sprengel on the 1st of june and needed some time to settle into the new routine. He is doing fine now, goes into the horse-walker and is slowly getting used to being saddled and ridden. He is still growing as you can see from the newest photo.

september 2008

Bonfire is four month in training now and really starts to show signs of good improvement. He lost most of his puppy-fat and is quite lean now, in fact Christian "does not want him any lighter". Bonfire has a lovely temperament and is a quick learner, and the whole staff likes him a lot and is keen to ride him work. He has made huge strides in his daily routine, Christian was even quoted in saying that "he hardly ever had a horse who made such rapid improvement in such short period of time". Bonfire is keen and willing and does show talent at home, and looking at his photos I feel he does start to resemble Bukett, his head certainly looks like hers now. Christian mentioned the possibility of one run this season, but would have to "turn a few screws" , something he is rather reluctant to do after all Bonfire has been through so far. As Bonfire is offering so much now, we will continue to let him do the talking; he certainly will point us the right way.

october 2008:
Bonfire continues to develop nicely, even though some sore shins interrupted his training slightly. But he is well in himself, and could resume a light training regime all the time. We went to see him on the 25th of oct.:

2009

march 2009

Its been quite a while since we last went to see Bonfire, but one positive is that changes are all the more visible now. Bonfire has strengthend up nicely and has got noticibly stronger around his neck. There is still a lot of room for improvement though and we feel he should be an even stronger horse next year. Trainer Christian Sprengel is very happy with him though and is eyeing up a meeting in Berlin Hoppegarten in mid april as the start of Bonfire´s racing career. So its fingers crossed and -hopefully- exciting times ahead!
(all photos taken 07/03/09)

28.03.2009

Bonfire is progressing steadily, and even has his first entry for mid-march, so its fingers crossed that he continues to please his trainer.
Well the situation as of 24th April is that he will be going to Hoppegarten in Berlin on the 9th May!

May 2009

Grand news to report that Bonfire is declared and ready to run in Hoppegarten on saturday, may 9th. Its a class D race, a maiden in all but name, over a mile, and Jiri Palik will take the ride. As it is the 2nd-last race on the card, we have a lot of time to get really excited. Christian is happy with Bonfire, reported all his recent work has been very satisfying, and that he will run a "decent" race. All we really want him to do is enjoying the occasion, and coming out of it well, and a bit wiser, in a positive sense ! Fingers crossed!

Well has you may well know by now Bonfire made a very pleasing debut when finishing well to be 3rd coming from off the pace and just failing by a hd to take 2nd spot on the line (as seen below)! At the moment he is being aimed at a similiar race in Berlin on the 31st of May.

June 2009

Bonfire did contest his 2nd lifetime start in Berlin Hoppegarten on may the 31st, in a Class D maiden race over 1 mile. He again performed with enormous credit to finish a gutsy second, behind his very opponent Rahad who beat us first time out too. Again -in all honesty - he was no match for Rahad, but battled on bravely for his 2nd place, about 6 length behind Rahad.
Bonfire will now head for a simular Class D race at the Derby-Meeting in Hamburg, but this time will be slightly upped in trip to run over 1m 1f. His race will be on Derby-Day, july 5th.

July 2009

Again Bonfire Night performed with credit in his 3rd racecourse appearance, though his actual placing in Hamburg does not really reflect this. 7th place does not cut much ice, but he did have a unfortunate trip and he did finish only 3,5 length behind the winner, the Wiedingen-bred and -owned Krambambuli, a son of Dashing Blade, and well thought of by conncetions.
Bonfire came out of the race in great spirits and will now takle a "proper" maiden race (proper as in: no previous winners are allowed to contest) in Dresden on july 25th. The trip is 1m1 1/2 furlongs (1900m), and with Adrie de Vries we also have a new jockey on board.

August 2009

Bonfire performed with credit but not much luck in Dresden, where an inaccurate going description led to much frustration. Officially good, the ground was nothing less than heavy, and Bonfire was simply not able to cope. He tried hard as usual and came in third, though beaten 10 length by the winner who finished only a head in front of us in Hamburg; Dresden was tecnically Bonfire´s worst race so far. Adrie de Vries reported that apart from the ground Bonfire did not like the tight bends in Dresden and needs a galopping track.
Christian was keen to take Bonfire back to Hoppegarten, where he has performed with so much credit, so Bonfires next race was a Winners Race on august 14th. Again we met a hot favourite in the shape of Larello, again from Trainer Andreas Wöhler, but in Gestüt Ittlingens colours this time. Again Bonfire was no match to the winner, but after a less than perfect race flew home to make up more than 10 length up the straight to finish a fighting 2nd.
Bonfires race-record now reads 3-2-7-3-2 from his 5 starts, and he will now head to Baden-Baden, where a proper Maiden races over 1m3f awaits him on september 6th. Star attraction will be that Kieron Fallon agreed to take the ride, thanks to our friend Kerry Jones. So after the anticipated sale of "Bertha" will no doubt leave us in a sombre mood, something to look forward to the day after!

September 2009

Luck once again deserted us in and for Baden Baden; neither did we sell Bertha (which after all might be a blessing in disguise) nor did we get to see Kieren performing magic on Bonfire - we did not even get to see Bonfire at all! Usually known for sunny temperatures, unsettled weather hit Baden-Baden leading up to the second weekend, and the difficult desicion was made to scratch Bonfire for good. Since Dresden we know that he simply isnt the same horse on soft ground, so we did spare him a 1000mile round-trip.
We now struggle to find a suitable race for Bonfire this month, for what will be his swansong race for the 2009 season. At moment we do favour a Handicap III in Bremen on sep. 18th.

Winter 2009/2010

After a truly disappointing run in Bremen, where Bonfire was never able to land a blow in a Handicap 3 and finished a weary 5th, we decided to call it a day for the 2009 flat season and took Bonfire "home" to Gestüt Idee, a private little Stud near Hamburg where Sponti and Belle already took their Winter breaks. Bonfire is turned out into his own paddock daily, is ridden out and doing his chores which include leading the yearlings. In between he is given some dressage lessons as well, a sphere always found wanting in racing yards, but vital for a horses wellbeing all the same. Bonfire is eager to learn, and quick at it, and his laid-back character make him a favourite with the staff at the stud. A small leg injury means he is currently restricted to walking only.