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!