We are very pleased with ourselves as we didn't miss a day on the gallop over the freeze, the Pointers appear to be in great shape and I'm really looking forward to Barbury Castle. The only thing that will stop us running is bottomless ground. The Old Vic horse will go over to the grass gallop on Wednesday for a good bit of work. At the end of the week he'll pop over a few fences.

The difficult Flemenfirth filly is due to leave tomorrow and she has improved no end. If she gets into the wrong hands she'll be ruined for life, she is quirky and takes some knowing. I found through my methods of positive reinforcement she lacked complete trust. I was interested to read an article published in the Racing Post a few weeks ago about getting horses to submit. This is not a theory I personally agree with and prefer to gain a horses complete trust. Some horses are simply easier than others. I think that bullying a horse into submissison is lazy and not the correct foooting to start them off on. Getting their mindsets right from the start is key to any horse becoming a successful racehorse. Any idiot can back a horse in 30 minutes or less!

The weather seems to be causing plenty of problems, I am sure its all trainers need coming into the Christmas period with plenty of big prizes to be won. It has caused me enough problems, how these guys manage with 140 horses I just don't know! In my quest to keep the gallop fit I seem to be spending more time on the tractor than ever before.

Megastar and his full sister Megasue are Wincanton bound on Boxing day. It would be fanstatic if they could both get their heads in front.

After much consideration I have taken a bold financial leap of faith and agreed to put an A5 insertion in The Owner Breeder magazine. It will be coming out towards the end of January. It has been a difficult year seeing a considerable down turn in numbers, with this in mind I feel the need to be proactive. Its money I could do without having to find but I hope it pays off and I get some business from it.

The Old Vic horse worked very well at Seven Borrows this morning. Mr Henderson and his headman Corky Browne thought that we should be very pleased with the way he did it. He was entitled to get a little bit tired as he had never been asked to gallop further that 6 furlongs. However he stayed on nicely and was by no means disgraced by more experinced work horses. We are still on target for the 2.5 mile race at Barbury Castle on January 9th.

Weather permitting I plan to take the Old Vic gelding over to Seven Barrows tomorrow for a peice of work. Its not that I don't have the facilities here ,we have decided to do it as its a fantastic experience for the horse. Its about getting the horse on the track with as much stress free experience as possible. He's a straight forward horse and it would be very easy to take his relaxed attitude for granted.

A lovely Westerner gelding arrived from Mark Jonas's stud in Wiltshire yesterday. He has come to be broken-in with a view to be re-offered in the spring. The Flemenfirth filly is going the right way and I am very happy with her progress.

Dancing Legend didn't disgrace herself, she ran well until the 3 pole where she seemed to get stuck in the mud. Connections tell me that she will now wait for some better ground.

Another second today with Banjacked Girl, it appears that she was beaten by a very good filly of Mr Henderson's.

Megastar has an entry to run in the bumper at Ascot on Saturday, I always thought he was a very good horse and he proved that when winning a very competitive bumper at Sandown first time out. I know that connections think he's exceptional. Lets hope he proves them right.

Both Pointers schooled very well over the weekend. The full brother to Kayf Aramis that i've had in over the last 6 weeks has gone home. He was an easy horse to deal with and is a really exciting prospect for his owners. Dancing Legend runs in the mares only bumper at Newbury tomorrow, its generally a hot contest, I am sure she won't disgrace herself. She isn't very big but her heart is huge.

I manged to get both of the breeze-up horses sold. Over the 2 days they were seen by all those that one hopes. I received many compliments how how well they looked and breezed, this can only help to promote my reputation and business. However I am dissapointed with the prices they fetched. The Accordion gelding was sold for £15,000 to Tessa Greatex of Highflyer Bloodstock and will be trained by her husband Warren at Weathercock House in Lambourn. I managed to sell the Zagreb horse for £14,000 privately, he's going to Nigel Twiston Davies. I had hoped for a little bit more for both horses but am greatful that the horses have been sold and that they are both going to be trained by 2 very good outfits.

Things are pretty quiet in the yard at the moment. If we have another clear night I am planning to give the 2 pointers a pop over some fences in the morning.

Both the breeze-up horses passed the vet with flying colours and were viewed by all the top agents. I am very happy with them both and looking forward to the sale tomorrow night.

Both horses worked well on the grass this morning, the Old Vic is due to run at Barbury Castle on the 9th January in a 2.5 mile maiden and I have a similar race in mind for Loose Performer at Larkhill in March.

The Flemenfirth filly behaved much better today and I am sure she'll come round with some patience.

Earlier start than normal tomrrow, off to Cheltenham for vettings and a practice breeze, hoping for a successful sale on Friday night.

Its a busy week this week, we have two horses going to the Cheltenham Breeze-up sales on Thursday for Friday. One is by Zagreb the other by Accordion. Both horses were bought in Goffs in June this year. The horse by Zagreb has a full brother named Innner Steel, he won a maiden Point to Point on Sunday over 2.5 miles very convincingly. I am sure he'll be well received at the sale on Friday. The Accordion has bags of speed and I am also hopeful that he'll be popular. Both horses are the type who will always pay their training fees.I am taking 2 pointers over to the grass gallop on Charlie Brook's farm tomorrow morning, before returning 2 youngters back to Overbury stud. We are currently struggling to break-in a Flemenfirth filly who has deposisted one of my lads onto the ground no fewer that 7 times. However we did make good progess today, she only dropped him once. I have no doubt she'll come round with the correct handling. I adopt the policy Captain Charles Radclyyfe taught me, we handle her for 10 minutes on the hour every hour.November was a fantastic month for winners to have come through the yard, totalling 19.