Christmas comes early

Seeing as Shelley and I will not be in the country when everyone else is celebrating Christmas, we thought we'd have a mini one today with me, John, Shelley, Poppy, Adam and Tony (John's dad). It's nice as well to let off a bit of steam after coming back from racing and as I'm writing this the festivities are kicking off.

It's been a frustrating week runners wise as all have returned to the winners enclosure but not the spot that means the most. Blackmore and Automotive were sent to Kempton on Wednesday, 'Blacky' was out quickly after last time but still only managed fourth, however his jockey came back with some useful information that it might be a good idea to run him at Southwell as he is just the horse to suit the deep surface. Then in the next race 'Mo' turned it on to come home 2nd, he'd been working brilliant before hand and he showed us what we'd hoped he'd show, although when asked for that final flourish to go on and win the jockey reported that his wind was letting him down, so maybe a tongue- tie next time out will do the trick. Saturday saw Entrance and Spirit of Sharjah arrive at Lingfield. The former ran another good race to finish 3rd, she's very in and out with her runs and just needs everything to fall right for her, she's come back well after that run and will contest in an amateur race at Wolverhampton tomorrow. 'Spirit' ran a much improved race after his last run by coming in 4th only beaten about half a length by the winner. He has his own ideas about how he should be ridden and when the jockey gave him a few reminders he was not having any of it combined with him hitting the front a furlong out he decided it was not his day. Emma's Gift ran today (Sunday) at Kempton and we yet again hit the till when she came home 2nd. The blinkers seem to have revitalised her of late and she put up another good performance despite not having a clear run well inside the final furlong.

This may well be the last blog for a few weeks as Shelley and I are jetting off to join Ross in Dubai on Wednesday. Spirit of Sharjah was invited over to race at Meydan so he will also be joining us later in the week. It's a tremendous opportunity to have the chance to run a horse out in Dubai and Spirit has been an absolute jem for us down the years. He's not getting any younger so we thought we'll take the chance, he's in great form and fit from his recent runs, we also have a little confidence that he'll love the Tapeta polytrack out there.

So with it only being John to juggle everything we've tried to minimise the runners while we're away. It'll only be Entrance running this week and then be quiet over Christmas, so John can have a less busy time on his own, although he's got 20 odd horses to keep him company!