Monthly diary — April
Lucinda Green
Cry Freedom went to the Intermediate at Tweseldown for his first outing with Harry Meade. They had an ordinary dressage and three down - which was good of them both. It would have shown me up badly if they had gone straight out and done everything perfectly. Cry Freedom is a difficult horse to understand, so it's a learning curve, but nobody is in any hurry.
Bill and I went to Stilemans for the Pre Novice and, astonishingly, missed winning by 0.5 penalties. He stopped dead before a garden seat - these fences still seem to be a recurring terror. After staring it out he heaved over, for 0.8 time faults. I told him afterwards that he does not deserve to win until he has overcome this paranoia.
He went well again at Aldon, practically before breakfast, as I had to make it to the Cheltenham Gold Cup that afternoon, via dropping him back in his home field. The next day, at Aldon, my daughter Lissa came 7th in the Novice with Primitive Pistol. Cry Freedom was brought out by Jill Sackett who also brought out this lovely little mare. She keeps and sponsors her especially for Lissa. How fortunate is that?
