28th February 2013

Sam was in, we schooled Dark Tartan, Knight Of Noir, Vazaro Delafayette and Gunner Road, all jumped well. Gunner Road will be getting his hunt cert this week and I am thinking of taking him to Paxford over Easter if there is a 2.5 mile maiden there. Frankenstorm may well join him.

Sargent Thunder, Net Work Rouge, Virtuoso Rouge and Medieval Gateway went for an away gallop. Net Work Rouge and Virtuoso Rouge were doing so for the first time and both will come on leaps and bounds for the experience. The other 2 pleased me, I will be looking for a race for Sargent Thunder in 2 weeks time. Medieval Gateway will hopefully run at Barbury Castle 24th March.

Trouble Digger was  fine this morning, Mr and Mrs Wills were here this evening to give him a pat. Alan King was also here to see some horses.

27th February 2013

A tiring but very happy day, Troube Digger has guts and courage in spades, he won really well at Lingfield, it was no surprise. Sam gave him a lovely ride. Trouble Digger is now tucked up safely in bed and seems fine. A nice pick of grass and lots of cuddles tomorrow will be his reward.

All the other horses had routine canters, those that worked yesterday have all come out of their gallop well.

I am off for a bite to eat, bath and bed.

26th February 2013

Routine canters for most, Trouble Digger had a small blow in preparation for tomorrow, he's in good form.

Cestus, Vazaro Delafayette, Knight Of Noir and Max Ward all went for an away gallop. Cestus will be aimed at Warwick on 20th March, Max Ward is being aimed at the DBS sales race at Newbury on 23rd March and Vazaro Delafayette and Knight of Noir will be heading to Larkhill on 16th March. Both horses will be entered in the 2.5 mile maiden in the hope that it is divided, if not we will consider running Knight Of Noir in the 3 mile maiden. Both horses are pleasing me and as always won't be knocked about, they are babies. If the ground ends up fast at Larkhill they will be entered at Whitfield the following weekend.

Major Martin has ballot mark number 10, I'd say he has 60/40 chance of getting a run. He is very well but some ask to be thrown into a Newbury bumper first time of asking. There is no point going to a low grade track in search of a weak contest as even a convincing win won't do much to enhance his value when he gets to the sales.

25th February 2013

Trouble Digger went for a spin yesterday morning, he's in good form and will be going to Lingfield on Wednesday.

Sholto was man of the match yesterday, a very proud father! Ice skating wasn't so good, it involved a visit to Witney hospital on the way home, Sholto fell and hurt his wrist. The receptionist in the hospital told us it would be a two and a halve hour wait! Much to Sophie's disgust Sholto and I decided it couldn't be that bad and we decided to go home. Anyway, Sophie took him back to the hospital this morning and he has a fracture and now has a cast, I'm not expecting any supper for a day or two. Much worse, he will miss playing in the County Cup. I may see about getting him some Kriotherapy at Champneys.

All the horses had quiet canters this morning.

23rd February 2013

Again, most horses had routine canters to a greater or lesser intensity on the woodchip. The frost has put paid to any visits to the grass this week, we were lucky to school on Thursday as I think we'd have struggled since. Net Work Rouge had a squeeze this morning and he has gears! I won't be forcing him as he still has a lot of filling out to do, ability alone may get him on the track this year, he will be a smashing horse after a Spring and Summer under his belt, I may yet take that route with him. He will let me know if he can hack it or not and will start in a P2P. Next week he will have a gallop somewhere and we will go from there. Cetsus is on target for a bumper at Warwick 20th March, if the ground there is anything like it was yesterday he'll be looking for another track, he wants top of the ground. We've waited 2 years for him and another few weeks won't hurt anyone. Major Martin will be heading to Newbury next Saturday, he is well and anything he does this year is a bonus, a decent run and I'd be happy to send him straight to the sales. Sargent Thunder is coming to hand, we will look for a bumper for him at some point over the next 5-6 weeks. Sadly, we had to hobday him and that won't help at the sales. Max Ward is aiming for the DBS Sales race at Newbury 23rd March, time will tell if he makes it or not. The aforementioned horses were all bought for bumpers and that will be the route they take.

We are undecided at this stage where we will be running Trouble Digger, either Leicester or Lingfeild.

England vs France this afternoon - nothing better.

Alice is coming to baby sit this evening, Sophie and I are going out for supper with Andrew and Gill Robertson, Andrew is a QC and a share holder in both our syndicates, he spends his days working on murders!

Sholto is playing rugby in Painswick tomorrow before we go ice skating in Oxford.

22nd February 2013

All horses had routine canters to a greater or lesser intensity. Yesterday, I failed to mention Trouble Digger also school, today he worked on the woodchip and I am very happy with him. I tend to ride the younger horses and seldom sit on him, I always have a sit on most, if not all at some point before a run. The strength in older horses is incredible when compared to 4 year olds and it reminds me how fragile the babies are mentally and phycially. Riding Trouble Digger today also made me realise how simple training older horses is, placing them separates the good trainers from the bad.

A great piece in this weeks Horse and Hound on Kauto Star's new life. I think it is fabulous what Clive Smith decided to do with him. The pictures tell the story, he is clearly very happy with life, to be thrown out in the field and hacked around when time allows would be no substitute to the life he has with Laura Collett.

Gary Moore is hoping to drop in over Cheltenham to see our horses. His horses are running out of their skins at the moment, he is a first class trainer of good and bad horses.

21st February 2013

Sam was in for the morning, we schooled Virtuoso Rouge, Net Work Rouge, Gunner Road ( Grape Tree Road 3 year old), Vazaro Delafayette and Knight Of Noir. Hopstrings and Alflora gelding jumped the baby fences. All horses jumped well.

Mags O'Toole was here to see the sales horses and was complimentary about all bar 1 which she wouldn't have as a present! I love straight talking people, it makes life so much easier. Mags buys mostly for clients who have horses in training in Ireland, she wants horses that will cope on the soft. Ireland is apparently under water. She mentioned that she hadn't seen so much standing water in 30 years and the country will take a year to recover.

Dark Tartan, Medieval Gateway, Major Martin and Sargent Thunder went for an away gallop, I was pleased with all of them.

We have oil in the tank and heating on, this house will take a day or 2 to defrost!

20th February 2013

We haven't had any oil in the house now for 3 days, it is cold! last night I took to my bed earlier than normal, as a result I've been awake since 3 AM. The boiler man was out this afternoon after the oil arrived. There is a problem, he was unable to get the boiler or the Aga fired up, back tomorrow for another go!

All the horses had routine canters, Tom Campbell was in 1st thing to trach wash 4 of them. I am waiting to chat the results over with him, to my untrained eye they all look pretty good.

Mags O'Toole is popping in in the morning to see Billy Biscuit and a few others. It is that time of year when I am fortunate to have all the high profile agents coming to see our horses.

Sadly, due to the weather we are still a bit behind with them, thankfully, they all had a great foundation in place and are now coming to hand very quickly, a few are only 2 or 3 pieces of work off a run. Vazaro Delafayette and Knight Of Noir are likely to be out next p2p runners. Trouble Digger is entered in the Hunter Chase at Leciester next Tuesday and Lingfield Wedenesday, he is also entered at Ottery St Mary on the same day Major Martin may go to Newbury for the junior bumper.

19th February 2013

Routine canters for all horses. Charlie Egerton was here at lunchtime looking at our horses, he seemed to like a good few of them, he will be sending a lad down next week to sit on a few. I know the lad and he will be respectful of the horses. This isn't something we would allow too much off. I allowed it a few years ago, the culprit will remain nameless. He set off up the gallop like a scolded cat and I said I'd never allow it again -  he did buy the horse.

It has been a pretty relentless day with very little to report.

James Anderson has broken Ian Botham's record of one day test wickets an amazing feet! I remember Botham hitting his highest test score of 208 as if it were yesterday. Botham was my cricketing hero, I was at Audley House prep school at the time and the masters allowed us to watch some of it in a very cold common room on a very small screen. He was out mid afternoon and I recall being hugely disappointed. Sadly, in my prep school days my highest score was 60, but I always dreamt of emulating Botham - in fact, I did off the field on the odd occassion!

18th February 2013

Frankenstorm ran an absolute blinder until falling a length down at the last. The horse in front of him also fell, I think he just got distracted for a split second. He jumped the fence almost too well and crumbled on landing. Whether or not he would have won we will never know, Sam felt he was just starting to pick up. He's only  4 and rule of thumb they take a stride or 2 for the penny to drop before they do pick up. I don't work horses off the bridle. He is fine this morning and lives to fight another day, he will certainly have no trouble loosing his maiden tag on yesterdays performance. He won't be back for a minimum of 6 weeks. Barbury Castle has been a lucky course for me in the past (I was leading rider round there for 2 years and trained my first winner there) but this year the table has turned. 2 runners there this season - Knockdhu won well but slipped his tendon of his hock and Frankenstorm tipped up! I am not superstitious but it does make me think!

All horses had routine canters this morning, those which worked on Friday and Saturday all seem fine and will do another serious bit towards the end of the week.

Adien Murphy was here this morning to see primarily, Billy Biscuit, I took the opportunity to show him everything. He was very complementary about all of them.

This afternoon, I moved the schooling fences on to fresh ground, Sam and I will be schooling most on Thursday. It is a joy now that the evening are drawing out, in another 10 days we will all be maoning the ground is like the road.

16th February 2013

A full shift today! My alarm went off at 4.30 a.m and I've just come back into the house at 6.30 p.m. Vazaro Delafayette, Knight of Noir, Max Ward and Major Martin went for an away gallop. We got 2 lots out before we left, any horses coming into training here need night vision goggles.

Sam was in this afternoon and Frankenstorm jumped 6 fences with Virtuoso Rouge. Frankenstorm will take his chance tomorrow, he wants better ground but is fit and well, if he isn't acting or jumping on the ground he will be pulled up. He's only 4 and has his whole life in front of him. I walked the course this afternoon, the ground is dead and will be holding, once it is opened up it will be hard work. We are in the 2nd race and will hopefully get the best of it. Although, we are forecast a dry night I can't imagine the ground changing much. There is nothing else for Frankenstorm for a while, he will at least get some experience if nothing else.

Anthony Webber was here this evening following up on all the horses he saw 2 weeks ago. A few needed tweaks, others didn't.

15th February 2013

Dark Tartan, Cestus, Sargent Thunder and Medieval Gateway went for an away gallop, all horses pleased us. The others had routine canters on the woodchip, apart from Frankenstorm who had a blow. I will walk Barbury Castle tomorrow and we will go from there. Thankfully, his race is the 2nd but the 1st could easily divide. Once the ground is opened up I think it will be holding and tough going.

Trouble Digger will be entered at Leicester on 26th February, a 3 mile maiden hunter chase for 6 year olds and over. He will also have an entry at Lingfiled the following day in a 2.5 mile maiden hunter chase. He has come out of his run last weekend in great form.

Poor Sam and the Parrots have had a terrible day, there is no greater leveller than racing, Sam has been on a roll with winners both in p2ps and hunter chases, today his favourite horse Bob 'N' You was destroyed at Fakenham. He was desperate to qualify him for the Foxhunters and that was what today's trip was all about, instead it has ended in huge sadness. I am sure Sam will be hard on himself but from what I saw he did nothing wrong, an opening came on the rail and he rightly squeezed his horse into the gap taking closer order. Everyone knows you have to be bang on the pace at Fakenham and he was doing everything right. Riding what you see in front of you is a skill many jockeys lack, Sam doesn't.

14th February 2013

Super Sam was in, Max Ward, Net Work Rouge, Vazaro Delafayette, Frankenstorm, Medieval Gateway and Virtuoso Rouge schooled over fences. Max Ward was bought for the Doncaster Sales race and still holds an entry, we won't get a p2p run into him beforehand and he may well go straight there. He will have the pressure turned up and we will just take it step by step and see where we are in 4 weeks.

Major Martin is on target for a bumper on 3rd March at Newbury, he is in good form, he will have 1 more piece of serious work before being freshened up for his run.

Full Shift was vetted today and will be on the move, I hope he is left here until after Cheltenham. I want him to have every chance to get over his run. If he moves it is inevitable that he will be squeezed along, I would do the same if a new toy arrived in my yard, the temptation is too great, with the horses best interest at heart I will do my best to keep him here for a bit.

I need to help Tilly with her home work or put the other 2 to bed. The second option maybe best for Tilly.

13th February 2013

I have received a few emails and text asking when St Swithin's day is, well if you didn't know it is in July. I'd rather think Charlie is referring to the significance of the day rather than my dour personality. However, I maybe wrong.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/9860913/Point-to-Pointing-reminded-me-why-I-love-racing-so-much.html

We manged to get some work into Vazaro Delafayette, Major Martin, Knight of Noir, Max Ward, Cestus, Grape Tree Road Gelding, and Dark Tartan the rest all had routine canters. The gallop was perfect late morning and we held the workers back until last. At 12.30pm the snow started to fall again and by 2.30pm I was on the roof cleaning the satellite dish as the receiver had been covered. I am sick of this weather and am getting very short tempered by it. I am unlikely to smile until the next St Swithin's day at this rate!

Carl Evans has written a nice piece about what we are trying to achieve on the Brightwells website.

http://www.brightwells.com/Libraries/Cheltenham_Results/Bloodstock_News_Update_11_02_13_1.pdf

I had a very interesting conversation with an Irish agent last night. The conclusion was an English p2p winner with a decent page, (well breed) and trained properly has every right to be as good, if not better than an Irish p2p winner. The p2ps in Ireland as we all know are hugely competitive and have much more strength in depth than ours. However, there is a flip side to Irish p2ps. The trainers are having to train their horses so hard that they more often than not need a year off to recover and some never do. Hence so many do not train on, of course horses such as Simonsig, Denman and many others keep their sport in the spotlight, as well as their exceptional marketing. But, there are many horses fetching 200,000 GBPs or more at the sales than never win another race - no one chooses to remember these! We are never going to compete with the Irish, but I do believe that top class horses will continue to be produced in English p2ps. See More Business, Cool Dawn, Teeton Mill, Mr Frisk etc etc Billy Biscuit and Full Shift!!!.............It is also apparent that agents buying horses in France don't mind if a horse has had 4 or 5 runs as long as they are progressive, why is it that when buying horses out of English and Irish p2ps the horse has to have delivered the goods 1st time of asking.

12 February 2013

All horses back into action this morning, the gallop was fine and all had routine canters. Tomorrow a few will have to do a bit more. Billy Biscuit will have to start to up his game again as he is getting a bit full of himself. Trouble Digger tried to take off with me this morning but I was prepared and he was grand after a few strides, he's a monkey and knows who he can get away from, we've had some amusement in the past, I never mind when the older horses get a run on with some casual riders as they enjoy it and it does them good. I am eyeing up a trip to Ottery St Mary for him, it is a track I know well, if the ground remains soft it will suit him, I wouldn't take him there on top of the ground as he'd be run off his feet.

This afternoon, I spent sometime doing some paper work, which, although painful is satisfying. Sophie telephoned me from the garage in Stow to tell me she had put petrol into her diesel car. As any husband will understand, although I was 10 miles away harrowing the gallop it was my fault! I had asked her to get some mix from the feed merchants for a couple of fussy doers. Had I not of been making her rush around it wouldn't have happened. She did leave at 2pm to go and get it,  the phone call came at 4.45pm 15 minuets before the shop shut...............!!!!!! Anyhow, she noticed her mistake at £16.00 worth and was advised by our garage man to fill the rest of the tank with diesel and all would be fine. She is now home, more importantly, she did get the feed.

"Super Sam" rode another winner at Lingfield this afternoon. I will walk Barbury Castle on Friday and think the likelihood is that Frankenstorm will take his chance. Deservedly, very good entries for Barbury, it is a great track and they work hard at producing good ground and great facilities.

11th February 2013

Trouble Digger seems to have come out of his race in good fettle. We will look to take him back to re-arranged Chaddesley Corbett meeting.

I woke to a generous 3 inches of snow this morning, my mood was damped immediately. It was the real wet stuff and would have balled up in the horses feet within a few strides. I made the decision to leave everything on the walker and concentrate on getting the gallop back in action for tomorrow. Once I had a fair stab at the gallop and the horses were all done I headed off to Wantage. I have been trying to get there for a month now, I went to look at a horse I have been asked to consign for Doncaster May Sale. He is a 3 year old by Lucarno, this will be Lucarno's 1st 3 year old crop to hit the sales. He is a good looking horse who will benefit hugely by the sales prep. I think they could be well received, John Gosden apparently has been heard to say that Lucarno could easily fill Presentings shoes! Not easily filled.

This afternoon was spent back on the gallop before evening stables. I will be back out there tonight before I go to bed and am pretty confident we'll be back in full swing tomorrow.

Charlie Brooks has given point to pointing a great plug in his Telegraph column today, it is really sad that our sport doesn't seem able to attract a larger following of enthusiasts.

England, I thought played well yesterday in horrendous conditions, however, if they are to win the Grand Slam they'll need to hang on to the ball considerably more than they did in the 2nd halve yesterday.

9th February 2013

Our 100% strike rate of runners to winners this season came to an end this afternoon when Trouble Digger finished 2nd at Larkhill. Louis held his hands up immediately and said he should have won, I agree, he was motionless between the 3rd and 2nd last when he should have been getting himself into a winning position. He asked him to quicken coming round the final bend and made up a minimum of 6 lengths from the 2nd last to the line, he was only beaten by a short margin. I don't know the official winning distance but it wasn't a lot, perhaps a length at most. Young lads need a chance, it was extremely kind of the Wills' to give him that chance. The horse is there for another day and wouldn't have blown a candle out. Louis is a good lad who rides well, when he gets his chances he needs to execute them to progress. It is tough to tie lads down to too many instructions, they need to ride what they see in front of them and familiarising themselves with the horse they are riding is paramount. Had he known the horse better he may well have got him rolling sooner. Should anyone be looking for a novice rider I would have no hesitation in recommending him on today's performance, there is no substitute for experience and that is only gained by opportunities.

This morning, we rode out in snow for the guts of it, all horses had routine canters and a few loose schooled. Frankenstorm is entered at Barbury Castle next weekend, I'd like the rain to stay away which looks unlikely.

8th February 2013

Trouble Digger had a blow on the all weather and feels in good order, his owner John Wills took a trip to Larkhill and reports that the ground is good, good to soft down the bottom, Trouble Digger will run. I am not a fan of novice rider races, however the lack of opportunity for Intermediate horses at the moment is ridiculous. I think novice riders would learn a lot more riding in races open to all jockeys. I learnt a lot from the senior riders when I was a kid, most of which was during the race. All said and done it gives young lads a chance and they deserve that.

My neighbour wanted a horse to work with so we took Major Martin to accompany him and Vazaro Delafayette, Sargent Thunder and Knight Of Noir along for the experience, the 3 just cantered through on his all weather. Major Martin is targeting a junior bumper at Newbury on 2nd March. Others, either had routine canters or loose schooled.

Carl Evans telephoned this afternoon to get a bit of news on the yard and last weekends runners, Carl lost a large share of his work through the lost of the Weekenders' coverage of p2ps. He is now writing some stories for Brightwells and will be doing a little piece on us and the horses in the yard. It won't be on the Brightwells website for a day or 2, if  anyone is interested it maybe worth a visit to their site in a few days time. Carl is a fantastic journalist who in my experience can make something of nothing.

This afternoon I went to a "parents evening" at the children's school, I now know how sheep must feel when they are lining up to be dipped.

7th February 2013

A non stop day, Sam was in and so was Louis Musprat, Louis will ride Trouble Digger on Saturday at Larkhill if the ground is no faster than good. We have had a steady fall of light rain for a few hours this afternoon and I hope Larkhill has had it too. Someone will go and walk the course tomorrow, whether it be me or the owners. Vazaro Delafayette, Frankenstorm, Max Ward, Medieval Gateway, Network Rouge, Trouble Digger and Knight Of Noir all schooled, some jumped more fences than others, I was happy with them all except Max Ward who needs plenty more confidence installed into him. Sam also jumped the Grape Tree Road gelding, Alflora Gelding and Genuine Art over some poles in the school, all 3 were great and will now head out onto the schooling ground.

Trea Newall and her daughter Rose we're here, Rose is a chiropractor and she looked at their 2 fillies, both of which had tweaks here and there. David Minton was here looking at Full Shift for a client and we will see what comes of it. There is no rush to sell him and he will make his money at the sales no problem. A lovely piece in the Horse and Hound about him. Sam's quote "Denman started in a point to point" is in print and classic Sam. The yard would be a sadder place without Sam shouting every Thursday, we have a Denman, and about 5 Kauto Stars according to Sam. Tom Campbell was in to trach wash 3 horses that I wasn't 100% happy with. The results are back, 1 of the 3 will have an easy week, the other 2 are fine and will press on.

6th January 2013

Routine canters for all the horses who seem in good form. Billy Biscuit was fresh and very pleased with himself, horses seem to know when they've done something special. Full Shift was also fresh and will be back riding tomorrow.

This evening we fogged the stables and barn.

Trouble Digger's nephew went into the loose school, the way he behaved he must have done a fair bit of it when we broke him in. Tomorrow he will be asked a few bigger questions.

A 2 year old filly by Black Sam Bellamy has also spent a few days learning to jump, it will be the making of her, she has a leg in every county and needs to think about where she puts them. She doesn't lack scope!

Sam rode another winner today at Ludlow for his boss Hilary Parrot, I will have to sit through endless replays this evening to watch it.

5th January 2013

Cestus, Knight Of Noir, Trouble Digger, Major Martin, Vazaro Delafayette, Sargent Thunder, Virtuoso Rouge, Frankenstorm, Net Work Rouge, Max Ward, Dark Tartan and the Grape Tree Road gelding worked on the grass. I was very happy with them. Dark Tartan, at this stage won't be ready for Whitwick Manor, she needs time and patience has always repaid us in the end. Frankenstorm is on target for Barbury Castle, otherwise we won't have a lot running for a week or 4!

Billy Biscuit thinks he is god and came out this morning like a raging bull, he tugged Alice up the road and couldn't stand still long enough to eat grass. Tomorrow he will be ridden. Full Shift does everything a trainer dreams of, he eats, sleeps and gallops and seemed perfectly happy too. I think he had a harder race than Billy and will have another day eating grass.After all he did gallop an extra 4 furlongs and is a year younger. His time was the fastest of the day, seldom are maiden races quicker than Ladies or Mens Opens.

My prediction of entry levels at Larkhill was horribly wrong, I can't believe that they are so poor. I imagined that the maiden would be split at least 2 ways if not 3. I had hoped to start Billy Biscuit and Full Shift there but thought that 150+ horses would have galloped over the ground before the maidens were run. The forecast, if correct could make the ground there very fast and I wouldn't have risked either horse on anything firmer than good. It is all irrelevant to us now anyhow. Sometimes you just get lucky with the way things pan out.

Alice collected Glens Boy from Bristol and he will now have sometime convalescing.

Sholto wants me to throw the rugby ball with him in the kitchen, so I'm off to please his mother!

4th February 2013

Yesterday was a great day, Billy Biscuit and Full Shift won the maiden races at Milborne St Andrew. Both horses jumped well and Sam gave them smashing rides. There is improvement in both of them, they won in spite of the ground and neither was completely wound up. The snow held us up for a good 12 days. Although, we were able to keep them on the move we were unable to do anything more than a hack canter, no matter what we all like to believe they lose that vital edge in fitness terms. Richard Barber's horse fell 3 out in Billy Biscuits race, we'll never know if the result would have been different had he stood up, the way our lad galloped to the line I doubt it. His horse had a tongue tie on and I wonder if he had just started to feel the pressure when falling. Full Shift served it up in the fashion I expected. Both horses have returned in good order and will now take it quietly for a day or 2. Their next entries could easily be sales entries! It is a great team effort, I can't do any of this on my own and I'm lucky to have some great and hard working staff. Going to Dorset and winning 2 maidens in Richard Barber country was very pleasing.

Trouble Digger has been entered for the Novice Riders Intermediate race at Larkhill on Saturday, 14 entries, Louis Muspratt has been booked to ride and comes highly recommended. He will be up to school him later in the week if we feel that we may go. We'll be watching the weather and the ground will have to be safe otherwise he'll be staying at home. There seems to be a lack of opportunities for intermediate horses at this time of year and I have no idea why. The last thing I want to do is take Sam off any of our horses, he works hard for us and deserves the rides. However, with all the shuffling of meetings going on due to the weather and opportunities being few are far apart to race, we have to take them when we can.

2nd February 2013

Billy Biscuit had a light canter and Full Shift jumped 3 fences. Both will be leaving early for Milborne St Andrew in the morning. Richard Mitchell (trainer of Cool Ground) walked the course today and tells me 70% of the course is good ground and 30% is good to soft, the good to soft is from the 2nd last to the last. Sam am I will walk it tomorrow and we will go from there.

Bath thumped Gloucester this afternoon 35 -5, we had a great afternoon and Sholto loved it, he is competitive and knows what winning means, he was unimpressed with the Gloucester performance who appeared to be totally out classed by Bath.

My stomach has been in turmoil for a couple of days now and in fact going to Gloucester Rugby this afternoon was a good distraction. Now I am home the anxiety have set in again. Should I ever lose the anxiety I will pack it all in. Alice is brilliant and gets everything organised. Having Alice helps to take some stress out of race days and gives me a lot less to worry about.

1st February 2013

An early start as I had to be in Ledbury at 11 AM, the lads were in early and we pulled first lot out at 6 AM. I managed to ride 4 lots before I left. Billy Biscuit and Full Shift had a little blow on the woodchip. Tomorrow Billy with have a light canter and Full Shift will jump 3 fences. The weather in Dorset has been favourably to us but I am concerned about the rain that is forecast to fall on Sunday morning down there. Hopefully, it will miss Milborne St Andrew and we'll have some decent ground.

Trouble Digger winning at Chaddesley, sporting the colours that were carried to victory by his owner breeder in the Liverpool Foxhunters has featured in this weeks Horse and Hound.

Tomorrow I will be riding out before taking Sholto to watch Gloucester play Bath at Kingsholm. Stow RFC have organised the trip, it is fabulous what they have laid on. The kids are all having a training session on the pitch with the Gloucester coaching staff, a tour of the stadium and then get to watch the match. Sholto is so excited it is lovely. He has been up with me at 5 AM the last 2 mornings asking what time we are leaving on Saturday. I've told him he's under strict instructions and not to get out of bed before 7 tomorrow.