Dakota, Diamond and Dingle

Unfortunately Dakota City couldn't quite make it three winning Saturdays in a row yesterday but his second-place finish was another great run and it proved that wearing a visor really is the key to him. I do think he'll be better served at a track with a longer straight as Lingfield has one of the shortest and his come from behind style isn't best suited there. The fact he won at the track though shows that he has a great turn of foot and hopefully there will be more to come at other tracks.

He, along with Attain, were our only two runners last week but the next seven days look set to be a lot busier with runners most days.
Starting on Tuesday, It's A Sheila Thing makes a short trip to Chelmsford for her third career run. She has shown promise this year and will definitely win before the season is out but she will qualify for handicap races after this time and that will make life a lot easier for her.

Then on Wednesday we head up north to Pontefract with a brace of raiders.
Dark Diamond is another horse who has improved for wearing a visor and his last two runs were great. I don't think he's quite been seeing out 1m4f so the drop back two furlongs should be fine and I can see him going very close. Along with him goes Automotive. He's been a bit quiet so far on the turf this season but his homework is now a lot better and he looks great. He has plenty of speed so the drop to a stiff mile shouldn't catch him out and, if he can cope with the rise in class, he could bounce back to form.

Automotive (Nick), Dark Diamond (Mark) & Silver Alliance (Tess)

We actually won Dark Diamond's race last year with Silver Alliance but, after his emphatic win at Brighton a month ago, he is now rated too high for the repeat attempt. So instead he heads to Sandown the following day. He is a hard one to predict and may be a bit too high in the weights at the moment so we'll just let him decide what he wants to do and see if he feels in the mood on the day!

Rounding off the runners is Limerick Lord at Leicester on Sunday. He has been so consistent for us this year and certainly deserves to get his head in front. The step up to six furlongs is ideal for him and, once again, he should be in the money.

I am very grateful to the owners of Moment To Dream who have been very patient with me whilst I get their filly into full health. She was doing fast work over the winter but went lame and needed time to recover. Hopefully their patience will be rewarded soon as she has now started galloping and impressed our jockey Adam when going up the summer gallop yesterday. She has really strengthened up for the lay off and is now a strong, powerful filly so, fingers crossed, we can see what she is capable of on the track in a month or so time.

Moment To Dream (Adam) & Guising (Luke)

The Ducking Stool is showing signs she is coming back to form now and she continues to look a picture of health. She has been missing Yarmouth since its redevelopment but she has good form at other tracks and could win somewhere else before her favourite course is back in action.
Big Bang has come out of his castration operation really well and now seems to have his mind much more firmly on the job. He is bred to be a late developer so there isn't much rush with him but I'm sure he'll be hitting the track by the end of this month.

The Ducking Stool (Sarah) & Big Bang (Sam)

Candesta is a pure all-weather horse so he had a good break over the summer and is now beginning his comeback for another season on the sand. He seems to have grown even more and is probably the biggest horse we have in the yard. Plus he is a quiet ride so I choose to ride him every day...you've got to look after the boss!

Candesta (JF)

Honeymoon Express suffered from a chest infection last month so we treated her with a course of antibiotics and put her on the easy list for a few weeks. She is now back in full health and should be out again soon. It was a shame to miss the dry period as she loves firm ground but no doubt there is still a bit left of the good weather yet.

Honeymoon Express (Caitlin)

John and I are heading off for a few days in Ireland on Thursday to meet up with some old friends in the Emerald Isle. We're visiting Donal Commins' stud on the first day to inspect his youngsters before stopping over at The K Club for the night. I know nothing about golf but John assures me it's a prestigious place so I'll take his word for it - as long as there's a bar I'll be happy! Then we'll be driving over to the west coast of Dingle for the weekend to watch the Dingle Derby pony race. It's a huge event and you get to see some of the riding stars of tomorrow strut their stuff. It is also a lot of fun and everyone is very friendly so I'm very much looking forward to having a few days off.
I've got a great team of staff at home so everything will run pretty smoothly and hopefully they can get a winner in my absence to reward their hard work.



THREE TO FOLLOW UPDATE

Mark Rimmer	22
Shelley Birkett	20
Adam Beschizza	20
Jim Stevens	20
Ros Cousens	18
Steve Moore	17
Malc Shields	14
Poppy Feilden	14
Eddie Partridge	14
Rita Aspland	14
Julia Feilden	14
Paula Smith	14
Steve Clarke	14
Megan Digby Baker	12
John Birkett	12
Geoff Roberts	12
Barbara Walton	12
Gordon Hill	12
Linda Wright	11
Stephen Broadley	11
Martyn Clark	11
Dominic Lisle	11
Julie Feilden	9
Lee Cousens	9
Tina	9
Kel Mansfield	9
Sarah Macdonald	9
Tessa Stone	9
Harry Hurst	9
Ged Turley	9
Bill Aspland	9
Geoffrey Walton	8
Nick Feilden	8
Martin Godfrey	8
Wayne Moore	8
Michael Buckley	8
Sheila Collington	8
Matt Bisgono	8
Robert Wright	8
Adi Tuddenham	8
Jason Coote	7
Sophie Collington	7
Chris Shirran	7
Dave Barnett	7
Brian Reilly	6
Jonathan Kinge	6
Sam Feilden	6
Steve Springford	6
Ryan Moore	6
Liz Moore	6
Dave Morris	6
Phil Collington	6
Rachael Shucksmith	6
Rob Weston	6
Bill Burgess	4
Allan Forster	3
Trevor Fuller	3
Barry Hine	3
Carol Bushnell	1
Chris Shelley	1
Sophie Feilden	1
Maureen Case	1
James Collington	1
Jane Shirran	1
Tony Birkett	1
Anthea Telford	1
Lewis Richards	1

PLUS SIX OTHERS ON ZERO POINTS