Happy New Year

Its been too long sinse I updated my blog. Its been a busy couple of months, the weather has certainly played its part. The job becomes even more time consuming what with frozen and burst pipes! I and my owners ahve had a frustrating time, we've had pointer pointers ready to run since 28th November. Its very difficult to keep young horses at peak fitness, enforced by the fact that we have them ready to run for their lives first time. I hope that we get to run on Monday week. I have 2 entries Cavite Alpha and Kiss Me Twice. Both horses should run well. I've not been able to get them on to the grass gallop for at least 5 weeks but hope that we've been able to do enough on the all weather. Cavite Alpha worked very well in Lambourn a few weeks ago and I would have dearly loved to run him at Barbury Castle earlier in the month. I am sure he would have won. Kiss Me Twice doesn't tend to find much off the bridle although he will stay forever.

The lads in the yard have been amazing over this cold snap and we have managed to get all the horses ridden and on the horsewalker everyday. A big thank you to them.

I took a lovely 3 year old Milan gelding to the Cheltenham breeze up sale. He came home, I think the breeze-up market is finished and won't be taking that route with any others I own. Agents and trainers seem to want everything for nothing, if you beleive in a horse its clear that you have to prove him and I ceratinly beleive in this fella. The owners want me to get him ready for a bumper and then ship him to Mr Henderson's 2 weeks before he runs. All the other young pointers are in good shape and I hope for some success in the New Year.

I would imagine that some of the yearlings will move on to their trainers in January and we shall all be looking forward to seeing them on the course. I am lucky enough to work for some of the higher profile flat trainers and know that they will certainly get the best out of them.

Happy New Year to all and may we all (horses included) enjoy the year to come.

Point to pointers are all coming to hand

Its been a frantic month or so since I last updated my blog. The yard is full and the days long. Its a great time of the year when we start to a get a real feel of the point to point horses. The 4 year olds have all been working on Charlie Brooks's grass gallop. It's a gallop that any trainer in the country would be happy to have access too. We are aiming two of the horses at Cottenham on 5th December, Cavite Gamma and Kiss me Twice. Kiss me twice ran in a bumper at Ludlow 3 weeks ago finishing fourth. He ran a good race but was unsuited by the sharp track and ran green. I'm sure that they will give a good account of themselves. Cottenham is a very fast track and times are sub 6 minuets. Both horses have been schooling and I very happy with the way they jump. There will be plenty more jumping practice before December 5th. The other two 4 year olds will run at Barbury Castle the weekend before Christmas. Cavite Alpha and Cavite Zeta. We may even have 3 runners that weekend the third being Cavite Epsilon.

Declan Levey has arrived and has settled in really well. He's a lovely lad a very good rider too. He's a really bonus to the yard, however, I'm old school and he won't be gifted anything, he's aware that he has to work for the rides on a daily basis. I hope that we are able to play our part and train a few winners to get him started and noticed.

Attheraces

Those of you who read my blog will know that Attheraces were here doing a yard profile. It was a great experience and Robert Cooper is very easy to work with, he has a great ability of making one feel at ease. We spent the morning filming different services that I offer. I'd been wanting to girth a horse since the middle of last week and thought that I would wait until the camera was rolling. The filly delivered and had a real good buck and a kick before accepting the girth and carrying on with her work as if nothing had happened. We filmed 2 horses working upsides, Kiss Me Twice who will be ready to run within 2/3 weeks if we get some rain and Cavite Gamma, Cavite Gamma has strengthen up considerably over the summer and is a smashing horse. He'll run in a Pt-Pt in November before heading to the Cheltenham Sale 2 weeks later. Both horses worked very well. Cavite Eta gave a faultless display of loose schooling.

Its been a tough time trying to find a real good lad to come and work in the yard and take the rides in the point to points. Thankfully my scout (Micheal Talland) in Irealnd has potenially found me a lad. His name is Declan Leavy, he comes with glowing reports having been champion jockey for 2 years in the pony racing. He's ridden over 200 winners and has worked for Adien O'Brien and Tony Martin in Irealnd. Its very exciting for us both. He's desperate to get a chance to make a name for himself and we desperatly need another real good rider in the yard. I find the lack of young lads coming into the industry very worrying. Lets hope it all works out for both of us. He arrives on Monday night for a weeks trial. It can be very rewarding helping young lads get going.

We are very busy at the moment and I hope the yard is full to bursting by the end of next weeks yearling sales in Ireland

At The Races

Its been a busy few weeks in the yard. A handful of yearlings have now arrived and its another enjoyable part of the yard. Having been around NH stores since May theses flat yearlings appear to be so so small. They are so well handled these days from foals making my job pretty each - excluding the odd one!

Robert Cooper from At The Races is due here on Wednesday. They are going to spend a morning with me and I will be doing my best to show and explain everything I do here at Cottage Field Stables. I am very much looking forward to it but dread the thought of having a microphone hooked on. I'll have to watch my F's, the lads will think i'm ill.

I am trying to find a real good lad to come and work in the yard, with the veiw of giving him the rides in the Point to Pointers. I have the word out in Ireland that I'm looking and hope someone comes along. They are a great bunch of horses that any trainer would be happy to have any one of them in their yard. Its a real chance for a young jockey to get noticed.

A busy month

The yard has been very busy over the last month. All the Natinal Hunt store hores have been loose schooled and are now in work. We hope to run a couple of them early on but our policy is to run them when they tell us they are ready. I don't like to force young horses.

Doncaster yearling sales start on Tuesday and I hope to get asked to break a few in. I am sure vendors will be going there to sell and will be very realistic about reserves etc.I feel that everyone is still very nervous. I enjoy the yearling sales as its a great chance to catch up with friends and see some stars of the future.

My main concern presently is the sprialling cost of raw materials. Straw has gone up to between £21.00 & £25.00 / bale, at the end of last season I had to pay £30.00 / bale for 12 bales. I am told that a local dealer is selling haylage currently at £55.00 / bale. If we have another hard winter it will be frightening what these dealers will be charging. However, I recall a local garage charging ridiculous prices when we experienced the petrol shortage. That garage has now gone bust!!!!! People don't like being robbed! Due to wheat prices feed has gone up £20.00 a tonne. I have been very nervous about passing these price increases on but sadly I have to. and have increased my prices for pre-training and breaking. Its the last thing I wanted to do but the business just can't carry them.

My leg is now in good order and I am riding out at least 4 quiet lots each morning.

Derby Sale

I've been so busy with horses that my blog has had to wait. Charlie Brooks and I went over for the Derby Sale and managed to buy 3 more horses for his syndicate. We bought 2 4 year olds 1 by Craigsteel who's half sister won the following week and another by Kahyasi who has a pedigree to die for. We also bought a 3 year old by Spadoun, Charlie loved this horse and we were delighted to get him. The market was very strong and we struggled to buy. However we are delighted with the ones we did manage to get. All 3 horses are now backed and riding around the school. The Doncaster horses are now having 10 days loose schooling prior to having a rest. The yard is very busy and at present and there just aren't enough hours in the day. I ahve 3 more horses coming in next week, 2 more from the Derby sale and Hidden Keel is coming back for some pre-trainming before he goes back to Charlie Longsdon.

A busy few weeks

Its been a busy few weeks. My leg has started to heal and I am now off the crutches. Doncaster May Sale was frustrating and fullfilling in the same breath. The Kayf Tara gelding that I took to sell trod on a stone and went lame behind for his vetting. Very annoying for his owners who thankfully understand these things and took the news very well - its always a pleasure to work for these type of people. However,on the positive side David Mnton and I managed to buy 4 horses at very reasonable prices. We purchased an Oscar 4 year old and a Presenting 3 year old for the combined value of £22,500. These 2 horses are for Charlie Brooks and his syndicate. We also bought a Flemenfirth 3 year old and a Epalo 3 year old, these 2 are for my own syndicate and their combined value was £25,000. I feel that on the whole vendors were much realsitic about the horses worth in these difficult times. Most people I spoke to told me that this bunch of 3 year olds were the last of the expensive foals. Hopefully now we will see a more level playing field across the industry.

The aforementioned horses are now going through the breaking process and are a credit to the vendors, they have clearly been beautifully prepared. I was also asked to break-in a Milan 3 year old for Distillery Stud and a 3 year old by Definite Article belonging to Trish Morris. All 6 horses will remain in work for 5-6 weeks before being allowed a well earned rest at grass for a month or so.

I find this time of year very exciting in the hope that these horses have some ability.

The Ice Chamber

Yesterday I spent the day in Champneys Tring. They have an ice chamber where tempatures drop to -135c. The chamber itself is not as bad as one might imagine. It is of course very cold, but its not painful in any way. The procedure is staright forward enough. There is an amazing girl in charge of it called Renetta, she dresses you in all the protective socks and head bands etc and makes you feel very much at ease. Once dressed you enter a pre-chamber -80c for 30 seconds before going into the main chamber for 3 mins. The last 10 seconds are counted down (much to ones releif) with hand signals by Renetta. Once out you are put through a few little warm up drills before entering the pre-chamber for another 3 mins. After which you are put through 45 mins of hard physiothearpy drills on a Vibro Gym, quite exhausting! I magaged to get myself around the chambers on crutches allowing circulation to be maintained. I had 2 sessions of it one at 10a.m and the second at 1p.m I felt quite exhausted last night and slept very well. If I have no adverse reactions within the next 24 hours I will be doing 5 days of it next week. My leg feels so much better for it, the muscles are relaxed and the pain has eased considerably. This treatment is really worth knowing about, although I beleive there is no hard core medical evidence on the treatment you only have to read the vistors book to see how versatile it is. Its clear that it has amazing results on a vast number of injuries and medical health complaints. The whole team at Champneys were incredibly helpful and friendly. I am very thankful to them and Charlie Brooks for arranging it. This treatment is available to anyone and can be booked directly through the Champneys website.

With the sales season just about to get into full swing I desperately need to get myself sound. I am consigning a full brother to Kayf Aramis at Doncaster May Sale. He's a super horse by the right sire and I am sure he will be well received. The concern I share with every consigner is how strong the Store market will be. The trainers now without question want form horses. However the form horses have to come from somewhere! I will also be busy trying to buy 2 new horses for the Cottage Field Syndicate, 2 for the orginal syndicate set up by Charlie Brooks and I and 2 more for a new syndicate set up by Charlie and I. A busy time ahead, thankfully Charlie will help me once David Minton produces the final list for us.

I am now off to swim the channel.......

Loose Preformer sales result and Tom's broken leg

Loose Preformer sold to Nicky Henderson for £80,000 at the Brightwells April sale. Its a fantastic result and I hope he goes on to prove how good I beleive he his. A 4year old maiden winner by Luso is unheard of and I think that the best is still to come with him. I loved him ever since I broke him in at 2. He has always had that touch of class that all good horses have.

The Friday after the sale I broke my leg, a 3 year old that I had been breaking-in reared over and hit my right leg with some force. I am pleased that its only my leg, if he had hit my upper body I dread to think the damage that he would have caused. He's a funny horse who had reared over before, luckly hurting no one. I thought I was making real progress with him and had him cantering on both reins in the school. I felt that he just lacked confidence and was always trying to build on what little he had. Anyway, he refused to walk forward towards a rug that was hanging on the rails some 30 yards away and when squeezed to do so flipped over breaking my leg below the knee. The horse has now gone elsewhere. I have 16 other horses in work and wouldn't ask any of my staff to carry on with him whilst I'm in this state (much to the owners surprise!!!) I am managing to oversee everything and Stuart my new headman has been fantastic keeping the place running smoothly.

I hope to be back on a horse and shouting at everyone again in the not too distant future!

Loose Preformer heads to Brightwells

Loose Preformer has come out of his race very well and heads to Brightwells at Cheltenham racecourse on Wednesday. He's a super horse and I hope he sells well. The syndicate of owners are happy to carry on with him and prove him further, this is great, so many people are forced in to selling due to their financial predicament. I have no doubt in my mind that he'll win again and the best is still very much to come with him. He's a May foal so by rights he's not even 4 years old. I read in the paper that the hacks thoughts Harry the Viking was the eventual winner until he svered and unseated his rider, they must have been watching a totally different race to me and ought to watch the DVD. He was in no danger of beating us and was well beat at the time of the unseating. Loose Preformer was running away!

Cavite Beta has been sold privately and will stay in training with Nicky Henderson.

Loose Preformer and Cavite Beta complete a fantastic Easter double

What a fantastic Easter, Loose Preformer won a 17 runner maiden at Barbury castle on Easter Saturday, he took a while to warm to the task and made up a lot of ground to win with some in hand. The best is ceratinly still to come for him, he's not even 4 until next month. Cavite Beta did not dissapoint us, he won on Easter Sunday at Towcester as we expected with his head in his chest. Loose Preformer heads to Brightwells on Wednesday week and the owners are still undecided about Cavite Beta. He'll either be sold privately or at Brightwells. I personally hope he ends up in the ring, as I beleive that if you have a good horse they should always be offered at auction. However its not my choice and I am sure the owners will do what they think is best.

Cavite Beta goes in to training with Nicky Henderson.

We wanted some rain but certainly had not accounted for this ammount. Loose Preformer is in good form and heads to Barbury Castle on Saturday. Cavite Beta who won his maiden at Barbury is now in training with Nicky Henderson and we hope to run him in a bumper over easter. He'll then head for Brightwells Cheltenham sale later in the month.

My lorry has been busy, I took a mare up to Shadwell for Overbury stud on Sunday, it was an early start as we had to have her there for 8.30 a.m. therefore I was crawling out of bed at 3.00 a.m.

The yard is busy and 2 cats have been ordered to sort out the mouse problem in the feed room.

Loose Preformer has a great introduction to racing

Sunday was a very good day with many owners turning out to see Loose Preformer make his debut. He ran as we expected and was pulled up 3 fences from home. I could not be happier with him, he's now on target for Barbury Castle on April 3rd. Larkhill on Sunday was a great introduction for him. He seems to have come out of the race in good spirits and was back cantering today.

Last week my new investment arrived, a little 2 horse lorry, its earned its worth already, on Saturday I took a horse to Malton for Tim Easterby, Sunday it went racing and on Monday it went to Lincoln with a horse. In all just under a 1000 miles in 3 days!

I am sure it will be a real asset to the business, not only ferrying horses for us but its availible for hire to trainers and stud owners etc. It will be driven by my new headman Stuart. Stuart joined us 2 weeks ago from Tom Geaoge's where he did plenty of box driving.

Loose Preformer all set for his debut

Loose Preformer is set for his first run at Larkhill on Sunday, we think he's a super horse and expect him to give a real good account of himself.

Last week saw the intake of 7 new horses into the yard, having sent 1 lad on holiday for a fortnight I've found myself mucking out at 4.30 a.m. this week! I'll be pleased when Sergey gets back.....

Cavite Beta comes out of his race in great shape.

Cavite Beta hasn't left an oat since his run away victory at Barbury Castle 12 days ago. He had a few days bucking and squealing in the paddock. He's now back cantering and enjoying life as much as ever. We have a couple of options for him. He'll either go and win his restricted on April 3rd back at Barbury or a bumper at Towcester on April 4th. I am keen to stick at the pointing, but to add real value to him winning a bumper is the better option. I have no doubt that he will win which ever contest he ends up in that weekend.

Loose Performer went to Paul Webber's yesterday and did his first serious peice of work. He went well and will repeat the excercise one day next week before making his debut at Larkhill on 14th March.

I am starting to see some green shoots. I have received serveral calls from new owners wishing to send horses to me for Breaking, Pre-training and Sales. Lets hope it stays on an upward curve. Its been a tough year for the majority of us. Spring is round the corner!!!!

Cavite Beta wins maiden by 30 lengths

A fantastic weekend, Cavite Beta won his maiden by 30 lengths at Barbury Castle. For 4 year old to make all and win hard held is a great performance. Obviously we are all delighted, he is now on the market and we hope to get him sold. If this proves difficult we will either try to win a Restricted Point to Point or a National Hunt Flat Race.

The yard is ticking over and we are pleased to see the back of the cold weather for now.

Cavite Beta to run in 2.5 mile maiden

Cavite Beta will run in the 2.5 mile maiden on Sunday 14 Feb at Barbury Castle, he's in great from and we are agin hopeful. He has schooled at home and hasn't missed a beat, as his Charlie Brooks wrote in the Telegraph, "always expect the unexpected with young horses". I am still amazed by what happened at the 1st fence at Larkhill, he's has always been a very accurate jumper. Lets hope for better luck at Barbury.

The yard is ticking over nicely with 15 horses, however although grateful to have them I really need more to make any money out of the business, if we continue to get through this economic downturn I think it will prove that the business is pretty strong.

The sun shone yeaterday which made us all feel much happier!

A long day, Cavite Beta over jumped and fell

A long day, Cavite Beta over jumped and fell at the first fence today at Larkhill. To say we were not deflated would be an understatement, I thought he would win. Although I am bias he was the paddock pick and was ready to run for his life. He jumped the next 2 fences beautifully and led the field all the way round passing the winning post a good 10 lengths in front, needless to say without his jockey. There are no suitable races for him for another month, with this in mind we'll see how he is this week before considering the 2.5 mile madien at The Heythrop next Sunday.

Thats horseracing!

Although it is slow the thaw has finally started.

Although it is slow the thaw has finally started. I finally admitted defeat and rendered my gallop unusable as of yesterday. Thankfully Paul Webber kindly allowed me to take the Old Vic gelding over to his gallop. I’ve managed to keep him on the go cantering only, he was found wanting in faster work. Mr Webber assured me that I shouldn’t be too disappointed and that he was in fact working with a pretty useful animal who had finished second in her only bumper start. The main thing is that the horse has had a proper blow and will no doubt come on for it. I will be taking him back there for more of the same on Tuesday, if I’m in any doubt of his fitness I will wait another week and he’ll miss Larkhill and run at our own Point to Point the Heythrop.

We have done very little with the horses over the last 10 days, only managing to trot them around the school.

We should be back to normal on Monday at the latest.

Another inch of snow

We've woken up this morning to another inch of snow - things are proving to be a little difficult now. I think that we have managed very well up to now. The snow is no longer powder but has become sticky, excercising the horses is going to be limited. I managed to keep the Old Vic pointer on the gallop all last week and the others stayed in the school and on the walker. There is more snow forecast for Tuesday night. After Tuesday I will try to get my man on a digger, he'll clear the gallop leaving 2/3 inches on it, otherwise he'll take all the woodchip with him, I will then harrow it in. Its all very well but any racing ground will become a bog, it was so wet everywhere prior to the snow. I've use this spell of miserable weather to let the other pointers down.

A seriously well bred Oasis Dream filly belonging to Patrick Milmo has been booked in for Pre-training once the thaw eventually comes.

The weather is becoming tedious...

The weather is becoming tedious and dissapointment is setting in regarding the unlikelyhood of Barbury Castle being fit to race at the weekend. The forecast for the rest of the week is for more of the same.

Two youngters of Johnny Wills arrived last week, one by Beat All the other by Alflora who is a lovely looking 2 year old. Lets hope for some sunshine and fingers crossed that we get to run on safe ground at the weekend.