Atleast the weather has been nice...

Well we must of been getting too used to having this recent deluge of winners as another week goes past and we have been unable to take the silverware home. It's fair enough when the it's not the trainers fault e.g. horse is unfit or it's the wrong sort of race, but when the trainer has got the horse in the form of it's life and then the jockey doesn't do the horse justice is very frustrating. As was demonstrated on Friday by the jockey that rode Blackmore at Lingfield. Although it was a shorter trip than usual there is no excuse for getting in a muddle taking the blind off and losing valuable ground at the start, the horse squirmed out of his position when laid up and was running on again and behind the winner a couple of strides after the line. When running in these races where the jockey has to have ridden no more than 10 winners it is a risk you take as they lack experience, the only positive to take out of it is hopefully the handicapper will drop him a few pounds.


As usual we had a few go for a long canter or gallop round Cambridge Road polytrack, life gets a little easier at this time of the year as for the first time since November we were able to cut across the Rowley Mile at about the mile marker instead of having to go all the way round up near the 1m 4f start.

Acer Diamonds did a good canter up there and as you can see from the sweat he is actually starting to think about things and get his racehorse brain on as it has taken a little while to get out of his bed head.

Sancho Panza has been steadily coming along for his come back at the start of the turf season and still maintains his enthusiastic attitude for the game.

We had three fillies work together, Canning Vale (left), Kampai (middle) and Entrance (right). They may only be moderate horses but it is nice seeing them all trying their hearts out in this bit of work, it is important to work horses with a similar ability otherwise the lesser horse can get disheartened and go a bit sour. But it will do the world of good for the confidence of these girls when they all finish in a line as they get a bit competitive when they are eye- balling each other.

Attain made a re- appearance since his run a few weeks ago, he just did a canter round and seems none the less for his exploits.

Verona Bay (in front) led Generous Genella up the Rubbing House polytrack yesterday. Both have been returning from injury and are now doing 2 canters a day. It will be interesting to see how the latter has matured when she starts doing fast work as we finally got the hang of her last year before she went wrong.

The two- year olds are coming along impressively and go up the canter either side of their lead horse now. Believe In Me (left) and Tiger's Home (right) matched strides with an un-named three year old filly by Halling out of In Luck.

Aswell as Blackmore on Friday, Emma's Gift came out in a competitive handicap. As the betting had predicted she was outclassed and may just be a little too high in the handicap now after a fruitful winter. Earlier in the week Automotive tried sprinting for the first time and although being backed into favouritism he still put in another bad performance, so it's back to the drawing board with him as he has once again left us scratching our heads about where to go next.

Next week runners wise we have on Wednesday Canning Vale and Khajaaly in at Wolverhampton, neither of which have been in particularly good form of late but they will go there in good health they will just need a bit of luck. Also The Ducking Stool will make a re- appearance after a break at Lingfield on Friday if all is well.

Observatory's lucky week!

Well the start of the flat season means it's almost the start of the covering season and this year we have two for the occasion. We tend to sell on our mares if they're good enough to become broodmares, but Bavarica and Bushy Dell have been fine servants over the years and are too close to our hearts to sell, with them winning 15 races between them and well over £120,000 in place and prize money they are well worth having them covered, even though both of them missing out on black type by one place. They both got covered by Observatory this week and we will know in the next couple of weeks if they're in foal, the anticipation will be even higher for Bushy as she proved unsuccessful after several visits to the same sire last year.

Bavarica winning again at Lingfield, this time under Toby Atkinson.

Bushy Dell winning in 2009 at Woverhampton under regular pilot Amy Baker.

We only had a brace of runners this week, but both proved unsuccessful. Dolly Bay had her last chance on Thursday at Wolverhampton when she produced another lack lustre effort, soon after the race a mutual decision was made with the owner that her racing days are over and she will return to the owners yard to be a riding horse. Khajally was back out after a short break at his favourite track, Wolverhampton, on Saturday night. He had us scratching our heads with his poor effort however he could never get his usual cover and perhaps prefers some heels to run at instead of in the open.

It could be an exciting week next week if Emma's Gift gets a chance to run in the winter derby on Saturday, we will just see what the race is like but if it is too hot then there is an idea handicap for her at Lingfield on Friday, also that day is Blackmore at the same venue, looking to keep up the good work. Tomorrow we have Automotive out to try sprinting for the first time, he has eluded us about what trip he wants so it will be a learning curve, but if he does take to it then it is a very winnable race.

I didn't manage to get any pictures of the work this week as I've been riding out due to Shelley being laid off, I did however capture these two having a quiet word... Blackmore (right) was showing off to Sancho Panza about how he would tackle the Cheltenham fences!

So close, yet so far away...

It's a bitter pill to swallow when you finish second, but it's even harder to take when you lose out by the narrowest of margins. So seeing Blackmore try his heart out on Friday night at Wolverhampton to finish second meant he had to be a bridesmaid again, it is good however to see him still in such cracking form and he can't of minded losing out too much as I heard when he was put back in his stable at the races he had a buck and started squealing! I sent John and Shelley overnight there and the next day Attain had his turn, he was sent off favourite but never managed to get going as a few of the others were weakening in front of him. He still managed 3rd but should now not get a too harsh handicap mark.

Although our Dubai dream is over until next time, there was some news that the winner of one of Spirit's races was disqualified and we were promoted to 6th meaning we got some more prize money. It was a shame then when we realised he actually finished 8th and so was only promoted to 7th just missing out on the cash!

The excitement is building now until the flat season starts and it kicked up a notch on Saturday when a few of the grass gallops were opened for the first time since September. However it wasn't the best ground to be working on so we kept with the usual polytrack to gallop.

Coming in after galloping...


Angel of Mercy has been slowly progressing after a few problems and will soon be doing fast gallops so she can get nearer to that debut run.

Kampai is our newest recruit and has been impressing us with her attitude and knowledge if the game despite only having two runs so far, she doesn't seem to need much work so should be out for her new stable soon.

The Ducking Stool (chestnut) and Emma's Gift did a fast bit of work together, Emma is now fairly exposed so when another horse works with her we know where we stand and Ducky managed to be hard on the bridle upsides, she had us scratching our heads last season about her trip, but she seems to have plenty of pace and we will just have to chop and change until we can find what's best.

The sprinters came up next with good yard- stick Khajaaly (far left) sticking his neck out next to Dolly Bay (chestnut) and Automotive. Dolly is entered to run Thursday at Woverhampton, it'll be her first run for a while so hopefully she can continue her improvement. Auto will also be out soon when we find a suitable race and Khajaaly's races are also hard to come by so it's just a matter of keeping them ticking along until the fixtures come up.

Acer Diamonds is coming along bit by bit everyday, he's such a gross horse he has taken a while to get him fit but these long canters are just what he needs to get that racehorse figure back!

Silver Alliance has had it easy after his latest run so he didn't work this week, but he has been cantering regularly and seems his usual enthusiastic self.

Verona Bay has been making huge strides since coming back from leg injury and has grown twice the size too. He was quite weak as a two year old so it was a blessing in disguise that he was able to have time off to mature.

Next week along with Dolly Bay we have on Friday Blackmore again at Wolverhampton, bidding to go one better this time and for the third time it's back to Wovles on Saturday when a race has come up for Khajaaly to put his stamp on.

It will be disappointing to lose a slave tomorrow! But Shelley is due to finally have her shoulder operated on, they say she'll be out for 3-6 months, the shoulder keeps dislocating which isn't ideal for working around racehorses, especially when she keeps falling off!

Mary adds spice to mild week...

It's fair to say it's been a mild week runners wise, however, I was glad to see Faraway Land aka Mary make a promising debut running on a fast finishing 3rd at Lingfield on Friday. It's also fair to say that she already looks a cheap buy, costing only £1,000 from the sales she has already almost earned half that money back. She towered above the rest in the parade ring and took one stride to the other horses 2. It probably sounds like I'm over doing it a bit but its more a relief to actually get her there as she is a bit of a mare at home (hence the name Mary!) and has to be ridden out in blinkers and a lead rope for other riders to pull her along and hasn't done alot of fast work because we can never get her onto the track! So hopefully she can keep this positive attitude up at the races.

With the flat season not too far away now, it's time to start gee-ing up the early 2 year olds for the fresh season and one that I think will be this type is Believe In Me (below), she goes out in hood as the sounds of the traffic and heath just frighten her a little, but she has come on a lot and now even leads the older horses up to the gallops!


Here we have stayer Sancho Panza doing a swinging canter up the gallops yesterday. He doesn't seem to need a lot of getting ready after a winter break and will be one to look out for on the turf this season.




The Ducking Stool also did a swinger up there, she showed promise last season but we have been struggling to find her ideal trip, she's been doing fast bits of work now and will be running on the turf soon.

The elusive Automotive did his first bit of work after a scan to show there is absolutely nothing wrong with his wind which I found astonishing seeing as he has been running like he can't breathe. It was, though, interesting to see him do a 6f bit with sprinter Dolly Bay, as you can see from the picture he pushed her aside easily so perhaps we will try him in a few sprints to see if that's where we are going wrong with him.

Stable stars Blackmore (right) and Attain matched strides yesterday in a easy bit of work. It's great so see how much Attain has come on since his first 2 runs, he is a little professional now and tries his heart out in every gallop. Blacky is also thriving since his recent win and looks to hopefully continue his purple patch.

I thought I might aswell get myself a hack seeing as every other trainer in Newmarket has, he may not be black and white or a bus of a ride but Khajally will do! He's been having it easy of late and I think using him to just hack across the heath has actually settled him down as he's the type that get lit up doing the normal routine.

Other runners this week were Canning Vale on Thursday at Kempton. We thought we'd return her to the place she ran her best race but it didn't pay dividends and leaves us scratching our heads about how to eek out some ability in her. The next day Sliver Alliance didn't have the run of the race at Wolverhampton, he's a course and distance winner but pulled too hard and ended up making the running which wasn't ideal for a hold- up performer. Hopefully he'll settle better next time because he has lots of ability and will be exciting for the coming season.

The only runner next week looks to be Blackmore on Friday at Wolverhampton, as you can see from the photo he is moving well and looks in for another shout. Sail Home maybe entered for an apprentice race next week but it just depends on what sort of jockey we can book.

If you thought being an owner meant watching your horse and drinking tea about the yard then think again. This is what happens if you get caught with your hand in your pockets!