Substitution time

We had a new recruit join the yard this week. After Dashing Patriarch unfortunately suffered a tendon injury which will keep him out of action for a year, his owner replaced him with another of his horses which had been on a holiday. Say hello to Hartland Point (right. And yes, we've finally worked out how to upload pictures!).

He has only had one run in a bumper but he looks big enough to try hurdles next time. He's not very fit at the moment so probably will not be running before Christmas.

Bushy Dell ran a blinder of a race on Saturday night at Wolverhampton. She had not run for well over 200 days but ran a gutsy race as usual to finish 4th. She had a long blow after the race so we hope that next time she will go even closer.

Pyjoma's debut at Pontefract on Monday was also very pleasing. Luckily, she did not get as worked up before the race as we thought she might and, despite running green early on, she ran on well towards the finish. Hopefully she can build on this next time.

A lot of the horses are starting to lose their summer coats now it is starting to get colder and the clippers have been in action. I do all the clipping myself but poor Oscar (left), our Norfolk Terrier, received a horrendous haircut from Ross and since then the dog has been pretty miserable!

Hopefully I won't be so unhappy by the end of the week as we have got loads of runners.

Sancho Panza goes back to the place of his first win, Windsor, and I think he can maintain his 100% record. The ground and distance are in his favour so he should run a big race.

Brighton is my favourite racecourse and I love having runners there and four of mine go there on Thursday. Beseech and Blackmore run against each other in the maiden and I can't say which one will beat the other. We worked the pair together on Saturday with the same weights that they will carry in the race and they both finished upsides, going as well as each other. They are nice horses but handicaps are where they will win. Also at the seaside venue are Ocean Countess and Little Meadow who both love the track and have a great chance.

Another one to run on Thursday is Generous Genella. As you may know, she has lots of ability but hasn't shown it on her two runs so far. My gut feeling is is that she will be a better three year old and we will just use this run to get her handicap mark before a winter break and a successful 2011 campaign.