Birthday Blues Disappear Thanks To Adam

They say racing is a great leveller and I couldn't agree more after the events of this week.

Tuesday night, it's my birthday and I'm evening racing at Southwell after our two runners put in disappointing displays. I won't be back home until midnight and to cap it all off... it's raining. To say there were other places I'd rather be was an understatement but come the end of the week, I was on cloud nine.

As I always go on about, my apprentice Adam Beschizza is also my nephew (sister's son) and since he was ten years old we have believed he would make an outstanding jockey. His debut season couldn't have gone any better last year with over 40 winners and a second place in the apprentice championship. This year things had been a bit slower and even though he had ridden 14 winners this term up to yesterday, he wasn't as in demand as in 2010. What he needed was a big winner - and boy did he get one!

The John Smith's Cup is the most valuable handicap run in Europe (£150,000 in prize money) and, as a result, is one of the most competitive. Luckily, Adam had manged to get a ride in it (his only one of the day) on a horse he had won on before but had run badly at Royal Ascot last month. The rest, as they say, is history.

The horse (Green Destiny) won by over three lengths and Adam showed a rare bit of emotion when punching the air as he crossed the winning line - it obviously meant a lot to him. We were screaming at the television for him and his mother was crying at the result. I hope this is the springboard that Adam has needed to really send him to the next level. He has now proven himself on the big stage and hopefully others will give him the opportunities he deserves.

The July Sales at Tattersalls are always a happy bargain hunting ground for us and we came away with what we think is another steal on Thursday.

We've had a lot of success with buying Juddmonte horses from France (Sail Home, Dance World and Spruce) and hopefully we've got one that can be even better than those three.

His name is Automotive, sired by Beat Hollow and out of a winning mare. As you can see, he's the spitting image of Blackmore and Spruce and after two runs in France, he looks ready to lift off here in the UK. We're going to geld him on Tuesday as he is pretty colty at the minute and then we will be straight into action with him.

He's available for syndication in 10th shares at £2000 (inc VAT) per share plus £180 per month all inclusive training fees.

I like him a lot and hope he could be the next star.

With various things going against us in the next few days, we will amazingly have no runners apart from Sail Home at Lingfield on Saturday. It will be her first try on polytrack and at the course but I can't see why she shouldn't like the two and hopefully she can bounce back to form.

As to last week's runners, I've already mentioned we had a bad night at Southwell after Premier League and Pyjoma were slowly away and never got competitive. That's the thing about Southwell - if you are not fast away, you're chance is over from a very early stage. It's worth forgetting these runs as they are much better than that.

Sand Repeal made his return to the racecourse after a year off through injury. He got pretty tired but at least came out of his race in good shape and he will be a force to be reckoned with next time over a bit shorter than the two miles he raced over on Thursday.

Khajaaly surprised many people by running so well at Brighton on Monday. The track is very unique and not many horses like it but he seemed very happy there and held on well for fourth. He's a consistent horse and will soon be getting his head back in front.

Three To Follow Update

No scorers this week so results are as before.

Next week the substitution window will open so get your thinking caps on to sort out your lists. Full details will be given next time.