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!