Rose Dobbin shuts down yard for the summer after virus-hit season

Rose Dobbin has closed down her Northumberland stable until the autumn after her most recent runners were still showing the effects of a virus-hit season.

Dobbin, whose most recent winner came in December, was hoping to erase the memory of a frustrating campaign over the summer but has opted to shut down her entire operation following more disappointing results at last month's Perth festival.

"We've had one problem after another and have decided the horses need a proper amount of time to get over everything," she said.

"We roughed off most of our horses a while ago and had eight or nine we were hoping to run over the summer. However, they didn't perform well enough at Perth and when we scoped them they still weren't right."

Dobbin, who is assisted by husband and Grand National-winning jockey Tony, achieved her best season in 2017-18 with 25 winners and more than £200,000 in prize-money but numbers were well down last season with just seven victories on the board.

"We believe they had a virus earlier on and then we had to give them flu jabs in February, which didn't help," she said. "After that they got proper lung infections and they've really struggled to get over what has been bothering them all season.

"A couple of weeks before Perth we got good scope results and everything was looking fine but they didn't perform up to scratch on the track. In the subsequent scopes one of the runners, Hitman Fred, showed an over-sensitivity to pollen. Their systems are still struggling and the slightest thing is jamming up their airways."

Dobbin started training in 2009 following spells working for Nicky Henderson and James Fanshawe, and has built up her string to 40 horses. She admits the season of turmoil has weighed heavily on her shoulders but she is grateful for the support she has received.

"The owners have been understanding about it all, I just feel so awful about it but we've persevered and tried our best to get everything right," she added.

"It's been terrible for us all, we've got a great team of staff and I'm trying to give them as little time off as possible, although they might have to take extra holiday.

"All the horses will come back and we'll look to start having runners again in September; you just have to assume they weren't showing their true running. For the first time ever, I won't be going to the sales next week as we have a lot of nice horses we haven't been able to run yet because of all the problems."

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