The break clearly worked for Oliver's horse. Original quote: "After a decent career on the flat Captain Peacock joined us last autumn from the William Knight yard and we thought he’d make up into a smart novice hurdler, he was very disappointing and almost seemed tripless - he's now run three times for us from 2m up to 2m5f. As a result, his owners decided to give him a good break, as he probably wouldn’t have had a proper holiday since he was a foal, and he has come back looking amazing, he’s always been a big horse but he’s so much stronger now. Also, with hindsight, my horses weren’t right before Christmas, after a bad batch of hay, so I’m hoping that might have been a contributory factor. Captain Peacock is bound to improve for the run, he’s done plenty of work but as they tend to race at such a pace at this time of year it’s hard to get a breather into them along the way. Peacock is a nice person who was a very good ride last season but he’s been a bit more of a boy this time around. It's a bit of a fact-finding mission again here even though he's an experienced horse overall. But with only three runs over hurdles we are hoping there is more to come and the break has done him good. It certainly looks as if it has. Nice to have Leighton back riding too. "
