'A wee drink and a Chinese banquet' - Perratt celebrates hot streak in style

The weekend started with travel chaos but ended in celebration for trainer Linda Perratt following five consecutive winners through Friday and Saturday.

The trainer missed Chinese Spirit kicking off the five-timer at Musselburgh as she endured roadworks and an unconventional route to the track but arrived in time to see Monhammer complete a double.

Celebrations were "sensible" on Friday but the party really kicked off after an Ayr treble on Saturday night, courtesy of Retirement Beckons, Sixcor and Judgment Call.

The winning run came to an end when 33-1 shot Pasha Bay was only fifth, but a Chinese banquet cooked by a culinary-skilled owner awaited Perratt and her team at North Allerton Farm in Lanarkshire, as part of celebrations for an extraordinary couple of days for the stable.

"I'm probably still in shock," Perratt said on Sunday. "The horses were knocking at the door but had just been a bit unlucky. We'd had a few seconds, thirds and fourths and were struggling. There had been be a few times we'd go to the races thinking we could have a good day but then coming back with no winners and thinking: 'Oh no.'

"We've had a wee celebration. Team work makes the dream work is what they say, and we won a few best-turned-out awards along the way as well. The team do a sterling job.

"Everyone works really hard, it's a tough 365-days-a-year job with late nights and early mornings, but they've done fantastically. I wanted to get them back, have a wee drink and a celebration.

Peter Tsim (left): long-standing owner with Linda Perratt and part of the celebrationsCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"We've always had a Chinese owner, Peter Tsim, who we call Uncle Peter who comes up. He's our own personal chef and we had a banquet, which we still need to tidy up. There was everything, fried rice, curry, chicken balls, satay, chicken with seasoning, vegetables, noodles – you name it, we got it. We've got plenty left this morning."

Friday and Saturday's success ensured the best season for Perratt since 2018, having saddled four winners last year.

She has been training since 1991 and was selected as captain for team Scotland in the Racing League, which started on Thursday. Her appearance at Doncaster that night was the reason she missed out on the first of her fantastic five winners.

Perratt said: "I'd been down to Doncaster and decided to come up the A1 to go to Musselburgh. There were roadworks on the way up, which I didn't know about, and I got stuck for a while. So I took the country roads through some nice places and it was very scenic, but not the best way to be travelling.

"I kept trying to get the satnav to work to know where it had taken me. The phone kept ringing when the first race was on and I knew he'd either won or had been well beaten but I needed to use it for the satnav. I got there for Monhammer at least.

"I'd never had five winners on the bounce before; I never thought we'd have it either. It's been great."

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