July 2025….

pippa666 ♦ July 17, 2025

The dawn of a new season ahead at Green Oaks

As we venture forth on the brink of the (winter) NH season, we thought a mention of a few of the horses we have to look forwards to may be interesting to our followers, old and new!

Stalwarts…

Top of the list for stalwarts would have to be Bushypark! He has been a tremendous horse for us over the years and is a big part of Green Oaks. Our North Yorkshire Grand National winner, a real marathon loving, mud monkey has enjoyed 8 wins and many placings for his Green Oaks Partnership owners who love him dearly. We will be giving him one last try before he calls it a day as he turns 12 yrs old in January, and will then retire to be daughter Indy Kirby’s pampered pet. It has been a real pleasure to train him and he will be sorely missed by the team, but has clearly earned a long and happy retirement.

Lone Star has to be on this list, our 6 x winning Kayf Tara mare has been a top member of the equine team here and her last win was at Market Rasen on Friday 13th June – no bad luck Friday 13th’s here! We wish her and owners John Cornforth & Peter Rawcliffe the best of luck this season.

Be The Difference is a familiar face around the yard, enjoyed his last win at our most local track Catterick with our yard Amateur Shay Halton on board. It was an exciting watch, 30 lengths clear 3 from home and held on to win! We hope to see him enjoying some more great days racing soon with his owners the Be The Difference Partnership.

Red Force One has long been one of the most popular horses we have, everyone loves a grey – but this lad really is beautiful inside and out! Now 10yrs old, he has been here a long time and with a tally of 13 wins and 15 placings he has certainly earned his keep over the years. The pics above show how he has changed from a dark dappled grey on the right (2021), to a much lighter grey on the left being the kindest soul that he is getting polo’s from 4yr old Jessica – head lad Simon and Sarah’s daughter. He is showing no sign of wanting to retire, taking much enjoyment from stretching the arms of his young riders at home! Owned by The Yorkshire Puddings.

Zwicky is a lovely horse, a homebred of Philip & Nicola Tyler – the names behind our much appreciated sponsor Topspec who have been with us from the start of Phil’s NH training career. He will be looking to add to his 4 wins this NH season.

Ones to watch for their 2nd season…

‘Boris’ as he is known at home is a 5yr old homebred by Yeats. Many of you will know the story behind his racing name Norah’s Legacy. His dam Lady Chloe sadly didn’t have any milk for him so a cob called Norah Batty from Coolmore stud stepped in to help. She did a fantastic job fostering him, he loved her dearly and so did we! Boris completed his first seasons racing running very well in some competitive races and we cant wait to see him progress this year for The Norah’s Legacy Partnership.

Bathgate is a very consistent 5yr old hurdler who won twice last season at Sedgefield and Catterick, with a few very unlucky near misses along the way too. We look forwards to some more great days out at the races with this talented boy and his partnership owners this season.

Others to watch…

Soul Seeker is a 9 x winner on the flat and will be heading to York at the end of the month for the Jump Jockeys Nunthorpe H’cap. Owned by Grant Harrison.

Imperial Sovereign is a high class addition to the yard who has been running in some hot races. We love him and hope he can pick up a big prize before the end of the season for owners James & Susan Cookson.

Unraced…

‘Friday‘ is a 3yr old Postponed gelding out of Pitter Patter. A nice young horse who may run on the flat, but has also already schooled at home and shown great potential to be a dual purpose runner under both codes. He is for sale, to hopefully stay in the yard – please contact pkirbyracing@gmail.co.uk for more info.

Whiskey is a gorgeous tall rangy type, a homebred 2yr old by Cracksman out of our ex racer Rayna’s World. We wont rush him at all and look forward to his exciting journey at PKR. Owned by the same owners as Rayna’s World – John Hanson and Steve & Rayna Fitzgerald.

Maxios (he is by Maxios!) is a lovely, quality 3yr old out of Rock Angel who will be making his debut in bumpers this season. He was originally purchased from the sales by Joe and Phil – photo above is the day they bought him home, Joe looking delighted with his buy! He is out of the same dam as the talented Jason The Militant – a family full of black type, so hopefully one to watch. ‘Maxios’ now has a small partnership of owners to enjoy his first season ahead.

New to the yard…

Kings Merchant is a decent 4yr old 80 rated sprinter by Bated Breath. A 4 x winner new to the yard after being purchased by Grant Harrison. We look forwards to some fun with him over the summer.

Tokyo Bay is a 4 year old dual purpose horse recently bought by Phil. He is a 1 mile 4 maiden winner on heavy, prefers a bit of give so may have a couple of runs this summer if the rain comes, but if not he will be schooled and put away for the Autumn. He’s fit & ready , athletic & robust. He has a 1/2 brother ZEEBAND, a 140 rated hurdler, this lad looks tailor made to be competitive under both codes for his new owners Peter Bryan & The Tokyo Bay partnership.

Who remembers Green Oaks Top Cat?!!

She was the first horse for The Philip Kirby Racing Club and a dual bumper winner who looked to have a very promising career ahead, but unfortunately had it very rudely cut short by leg injury. We shall never know how great she could have been, but she is now taking the route of broodmare for us. More bad luck struck for her first effort to have a foal, as she sadly lost it after a trip over to France to be covered by ‘Mare Australis’ a listed & group 1 winner carefully picked out as a perfect match for her. She is now in foal to Chilli Zing, due on 27/5/26. Fingers crossed for a safe pregnancy with a happy, healthy foal.

Merlin goes to HOYS again!

He really has been the horse only dreams are made of for the Kirby girls. Merlin, formally known as Monivea Black Magic has qualified for HOYS for the 3rd time, with the 3rd member of the family Indy Kirby, following in the footsteps of big sis Izzy and mother Pippa. Indy finally gets her turn and will take the honour of riding him at HOYS this time around, and we are sure she will do a cracking job. I think the plan is for him to retire to stud after this, so hopefully he can go out in a blaze of glory! Big thanks goes to the Lucy Glover show team who do a wonderful job of keeping Merlin in tip top condition throughout his career. Best of luck to Indy & Merlin!