Wednesday 31 August 2016

On Tuesday Ian Piper came to take pictures of the horses and update the website so hopefully you will be getting more updated information about the yard and horses.

We are working at the Back of The Hill. Sureness, Baltic Storm and Quebec are working nicely together. Sureness goes back to San Sebastion for a race on the 10th September. She was second there last month and there is an ideal race for her over a longer distance which will suit her. Baltic Storm and Quebec will have entries in about 2 weeks time.

We have had quite a busy week with people coming to see the new horses we have got for the upcoming season. I am hoping we can sell one or two quite soon as the Sales Companies are knocking on my door.

We had a big lunch on Sunday and I cooked for 14 people. It was good fun but a very late one. Lucinda Green came to see the horses on the gallops on Monday and she said that she was very impressed.

We has a burst pipe on Tuesday and the water was flowing down the road and causing mayhem. Luckily Thames Water did their bit and got it mended.

My kids got back from the Canary Islands on Monday so I took them to the Indian Restaurant in Lambourn to see all their pictures and celebrate the fact that Matilda did very well in her GCSE's.

We have Gowanauthat in at Stratford on Saturday and I thought the race would be too competitive for him but it is starting to cut up which means that he may run. He is going for a 5th timer and life is getting harder for him as the Handicapper has put him up 27 lbs.

Monday 22 August 2016

I took my children Matilda and William up to Edinburgh for our annual trip. We stayed with both my sisters and the weekend with my brother. The Edinburgh Festival is fascinating as there are so many street performers and different shows to go to and it keeps my kids enthralled. On the second day we were there we ran Victor Leudorum at Stratford and he won by 23 lenghts which did not do his Handicap mark a lot of good as he went up 13lb for winning. We turned him out again quickly a week later again at Stratford in a £10,000 chase and he won again. Although he runs in Vanessa Eke's name he is owned by me and he is for sale.

We had Terry Simmons down on Friday to watch his horses out third lot and then we had lunch in the Malt. John and Veronica Thorneloe came round to look at the horses in the afternoon. We then had Anthony and Wendy Smith who came to see their horses and stayed the night at the Malt. We had a very good dinner together and then they watched  their horses on the gallops the next morning.

We ran Gowanauthat at Newton Abbot on Saturday. He carried top weight against 8 rivals, he made all the running, jumped like a cat and won his fourth race in a row this season. Considering we were going to sell him at the end of last season he has been a star.

We have had a very good start to this season and our last 3 runners have all won. Most of the horses are cantering now and we have quite a few for sale.

Its a sad day today as the Olympics have finished and I was in awe of them. To finish 2nd in the table and beat China is an enormous accomplishment. It was wonderful to see Nick Skelton at the age of 58 win a gold medal and it was an amazing achievement. Anyway hats off to all GB Team members and I look forward to Tokyo.

The nights and mornings are drawing in a bit now and we are starting to do a bit more with some of the horses.On Saturday Tommy Dowling got on a horse for the first time since his accident at the end of April.He has made an amazing recovery considering the amount of bones that he broke. He was at first told that he would not ride for a year and he's made it back onto a horse in the space of 4 months. He is hoping to race ride in mid September so we all wish him well.

Thursday 11 August 2016

Have had a fairly busy week. We went to Doncaster Sales last Wednesday and managed to sell two horses and buy a nice horse called Like The Sound for Paul Mott. He is a good looking horse with form in France and should jump a fence.

I stayed in a very ordinary hotel at Birmingham called Ibis We flew very early to Biarritz. Myself and my two assistants Will Stuart and Evelyn Faber. We arrived at San Sebastian and went to look at the racecourse as we had Sureness running in the big race there on the Monday. We did a lot of research into the town and supervised Sureness having her exercise on the track.

Race day was on Monday and I was suffering from food poisoning haven eaten a dodgy oyster. Luckily Sureness was in great form and managed to finish 2nd under a good ride from Roberto Montenegro. She beat this years Guineas winner and another who finished 2nd in the Oaks.

I was very proud of her and she arrived back yesterday. I have found another race for her in San Sebastian on September 10th and it will suit her more as it's 3 furlongs further. My liver is now recovering.

Monday 1 August 2016

I Have been trying Horseboxes for most of last week and have decided on buying a brand new Equitrek. It seems to be the best value for money and we got a good deal. It hopefully arrives in about 3 weeks time.

We have managed to get nearly all the horses in from the field now and most of them are doing road work.We have some nice young horses all with either Point to Point or Bumper form and they look a nice bunch. I have to get my sales cap on and find some owners for them.

We managed to get 3 new members of staff last week and considering the shortage of staff in Racing I think we've done fairly well.

We ran Victor Leudorum last Tuesday at Worcester and he ran a really nice race finishing 2nd at 33/1. On the back of this we should be able to place him to win a race.

We went to Goodwood on Wednesday to have lunch with William & Carey Harrison Allan. The weather was better than most days and we saw some very good racing. It is the only day of the year I wear my man from Del Monte suit so it was lucky the sun was out!

We are very lucky that we have a very good Indian Restaurant in Lambourn and I took Susanna and the kids there on Saturday night which they always enjoy.

I went to Jane Alison's for lunch on Sunday and was very impressed with her set up. She has some nice horses in and she does a good job. We ran Le Legro at Market Rasen and he didn't jump very well and finished 5th. I'm afraid his next outing may be the Sales.

We have a busy time this week with the Sales at Doncaster on Wednesday and then we are off to Sans Sebastian on Thursday as Sureness runs in a flat race there. We have a jockey called Roberto Montenegro riding her and they say he is very good and I have managed to see him ride in a couple of races. She seems in very good form, Sureness and it would be nice to bring home a few euros.

We will keep you updated.