The drama doesn't just happen on the racetrack

It's been quite a dramatic week, but it's all been happening at home instead of on the racecourse. First for the bad news, one of the horses I was most looking forward to seeing run this year was Sancho Panza who, after a winter break, was looking marvellous and his work spoke for itself. So it is a huge disappointment when they pick up and injury, in this case he has damaged his off- fore tendon which straight away means a year off from training. It is probably the most common injury in racehorses as all their weight is bared by their stick thin legs but sometimes it is unavoidable as he is very sound usually and has been doing exactly the same everyday and what all the other horses would do. It is extra frustrating for the owners as he is a horse that you can guarantee will give you fun all year round as he is so consistent. But hopefully in a years time he will be back on the track again. Here is a picture of his legs, now to the untrained eye it might be hard to see the difference, but the tendons of the leg closest are slightly more inflamed than the other leg and this is where the injury has occurred.


Now for the good news, I made light a couple of weeks ago of the two broodmares being covered and we had the results from the first scan of Bavarica and it showed not one but two foals growing inside her! However, it would be risking her life for her to have twins so the vet had to come and remove one of the eggs. It was in fact up to John to decide, hopefully he didn't get rid of the Derby winner so if it's useless we can blame him! Bushy Dell will be due for her scan next week so fingers crossed they can share their pregnancies. Here is 'Busy' in the foreground with 'Rita' looking on.

With the weather being unusually pleasant at this time of the year, the fillies especially have more of a spring in their step and love a good scrap in the field. Here the girls, from left to right, Sail Home, Bushy Dell, Kampai, Angel of Mercy, Bonnie and Entrance, stretched their legs in the sunshine.

Alot of little things go into making these horses happy, we do our very best to ensure this and one of them is picking a stable which the horse will settle and be most relaxed in. Here Lea Valley (pictured) used to live in a stable overlooking one of the paddocks, but when she sees all the horses running about she just wants to join in, so after the departure of Dolly Bay we moved her into her stable into the barn where she can sniff and see the horse next to her (The Ducking Stool) which calms her down and as a result is a better racehorse for it.

With the kittens growing up so fast now they have begun to go their job and hunt out all the mice in the stables, here is Cathy keeping an eye on things.

Whilst walking around with the camera it is interesting to see which horses play up to it. Silver Alliance always has his head out and I managed to catch him mid- yawn!

Only the two runners this week starting with Canning Vale at Kempton on Wednesday, she put in another poor run but it was interesting when Cathy Gannon came back and said she was struggling to find some grip on the all- weather surface and would be much more suited on the turf. We have missed Cathy alot since she has been out with injury as she is a jockey who will give every horse the best possible chance and then come back and actually tell you something about it. Then The Ducking Stool made her seasonal debut at Lingfield to finish 3rd, it was her best run to date and should be getting competitive now we have found her ideal trip if she can keep up the good work.

We will be quiet again next week with only Emma's Gift due to run on Saturday.