30th April 2013

Sam was in to school Trouble Digger and James Ridley came to school Hopstrings. Hopstrings and Frankenstorm may run in the same race at Cold Harbour on Sunday. I don't like running our horses against each other but sometimes needs must.

Trouble Digger has been declared to run in the 3 mile 1 furlong Hunter Chase tomorrow. I think the horse to beat is Coombe Hill. Divine Intervention has had a very very hard season and the fact that he ran out last week tells its own story. I do not know the circumstances why and maybe commenting unfairly. Trouble Digger is in great form but it is a big ask. He will be competitive and hopefully give us all a fun evening.

Lunette and the Lawman filly left this afternoon and will now have to work harder for their corn with Ralph Beckett.

The DBS store catalogue is now on-line, I hope to get my hard copy before the weekend. This will give me plenty to do, fingering through the pages in excitement of what we may and may not like or more to the point be able to afford! This afternoon I booked my flights to Ireland for Goffs and The Derby Sale. This evening I will book the hotel. The worry of next years bunch has already started to set in. I can't believe how quickly time has passed, it seems as if it were only a few months ago we were out in Ireland getting this years bunch.

29th April 2013

Net Work Rouge and Virtuoso Rouge have come out of their races in great fettle and are now enjoying the paddocks. I will let them both down for a few days. They will be ticked over before I decide what I'm going to do with them.

Trouble Digger will run in the 2 mile race at Cheltenham, we are all in agreement that is the best race for him and only time will tell.

This morning the dentist was here, she dealt with 2 Midnight Legend fillies, a Whipper filly, Lunette and a Manduro colt.  All bar Lunette had wolf teeth and the vet was here to sedate them. Lunette and the Lawman filly will be going into training with Ralph Beckett tomorrow.

Kim Bailey is leading the trainers championship after a fantastic treble yesterday, well done to him.

This afternoon I had a cup of tea with a mate in Paxford. A lady turned up with his very smart made to measure suit, as you may guess, I was soon measured up and am expecting delivery of a new suit in 6 weeks. I've been promising myself one for about 8 years now and thought after the weekends excitments I would indulge myself. It is certainly the most expensive cup of tea I've ever had! Sholto's timing is also perfect, he picked his moment on Saturday afternoon when asking for a new bike, Virtuoso Rouge had just won giving us a double.

If anyone should be thinking of having a suit made I would highly recommend Debbie Stephens: They cater for both men and women, the quality of the suit I saw today was top class, they come to your home and offer a fantastic service.

http://www.nortonandtownsend.co.uk/

I think they maybe better off to photograph me than the monster they have on their home page!

27th April 2013

A great day, Net Work Rouge and Vituoso Rouge both won at The Berkeley. Both horses were equally impressive. Virtuoso Rouge beat a horse that was bought for 100,000 Euros as a 3 year old store. Sam didn't need to move on Net Work Rouge and trounced the opposition. Sam was mightily impressed by his performance and thinks he is potentially a seriously good horse. He is still a frame and will be much stronger after a summer at grass. I will give both of them a chance to get over their races before deciding what we do next.  Sam had a red letter day and rode a treble, he gave our 2 horses smashing rides and I am delighted for him. He works hard and deserves all the luck he gets.

26th April 2013

All horses had canters on the woodchip, Net Work Rouge and Virtuoso Rouge had a little blow. Those here for breaking were either long reined or ridden around the lunge pen.

This afternoon was spent with Pat the bookkeeper doing the monthly accounts.

Andrew is staying this evening in anticipation of Net Work Rouge and Virtuoso Rouge running tomorrow. 2 lovely horses who will be serious after a summer at grass.

25th April 2013

Trouble Digger, Net Work Rouge, Virtuoso Rouge, Go Billy Go and Hopstrings schooled. All jumped very well. I walked Woodford this evening and they are frantically watering and doing an outstanding job. Net Work Rouge and Virtuoso Rouge will run.

Ant Webber was here this morning and checked over the weekend runners and Trouble Digger, all had minor adjustments to their skeletal frame. I ahven't had time to look at the Cheltenham entries but no doubt it will be competitive. Trouble Digger is in great nick and if the ground is safe won't disgrace himself.

24th April 2013

Nothing too exciting happening. Trouble Digger worked on the woodchip and seems in good form, he will have entries in the 2 mile hunter chase and the 3 mile hunter chase at the evening meeting at Cheltenham next Wednesday. There seems to be a bit of rain forecast and as long as it is safe I'd be keen to let him take his chance.

Derek Newell delivered a Whipper filly who will be backed and pre-trained before going into training with Ralph Beckett if she's strong enough. Tomorrow we will sit on the 2 Midnight Legend fillies belonging to David Allen, both of which have been long reined and are now ready to be sat on.

23rd April 2013

Trouble Digger, Go Billy Go and Hopstrings schooled. Mr and Mrs Newell were here to see Hopstrings. She jumped well and is improving all the time. She will have a couple of entries over the May Bank holiday weekend.

Net Work Rouge and Virtuoso Rouge did a bit of work in preparation for their runs on Saturday. The ground is currently being given as Good Good to Soft in places, that seems hard to believe considering the dry spell we've had. It is always beautiful ground at Woodford and I am not overly concerned at this stage. I will walk it on Friday.

Megastar's full brother is in and will be pre-trained before going to Gary Moore in August.

Sadly, I missed Sprinter Sacre win in Punchestown 10 out of 10 is incredible and testament to the horse's ability, to win at Cheltenham, Liverpool and Punchestown is outstanding and a fantastic training performance. He maybe pure class but there is still much skill required to produce a horse to win at 3 festivals no matter how good they are. Congratulations to all.

22nd April 2013

Frankenstorm ran well but didn't stay, he finished 4th. At the second last he looked the winner but just didn't get home. He is fine this morning and will try his luck over 2.4 somewhere soon. His jumping was very accurate and Sam was pleased with him.

We are now filling up with youngsters, last week 2 Midnight Legends fillies arrived belonging to David Allen and Ralph Beckett sent a 2 year old filly by Lawman that he bought at the breeze-up sales. She will be on tick over for a while before returning to Ralph. A Manduro colt has arrived today to be broken in and pre-trained before going into training with Ralph, the same owner is bringing a filly on Wednesday for the same purpose. Tomorrow a 3 year old gelding by Kayf Tara arrives. I broke him in last winter, he will be pre-trained and go to Gary Moore in August.

Tom Campbell was in first thing to trach wash next weekends runners, the results look good on paper. I will be talking them over with him tonight before making any firm plans. If he is happy and we get safe ground Net Work Rouge and Virtuoso Rouge will run at Woodford. Virtuoso Rouge will run in the 3 mile contest if they both go.

Dark Tartan won't run again this season, she is well but still has a lot of growing to do, the right decision has been made and she will be going out to the paddocks for a well earned rest and a chance to grow and strengthen up.

20th April 2013

Gunner Road won at Kingston Blount this afternoon, Sam gave him a smashing ride and I don't believe any other jockey on the track would have won on him. Sam knows these horses as well as anyone, he didn't panic early on but always kept him close enough. He came there along the back straight 2nd time around but ran a bit green around the final bend, got a fantastic jump at the last which got him back into the race before he ran out a comfortable enough winner. It was a competitive maiden with 13 runners, many of which had form. I am delighted for the owners who have been extremely patient. They have always done the right thing by the horse which makes my job very easy. Gunner Road stuck at his task well and is as tough as they come. Any regular readers of my blog will know my opinion on tough horses and Gunner Road is one of them. Once we've all had time to enjoy the win a decision will be made as to where he goes next, possibly Brightwells May Sale. Tomorrow he'll be out in the field having a well deserved belly full of grass!

Since the sales on Wednesday we've had some lovely press and below is a link to EBN. Page 7,8,9 and 10 have the sales report.

http://www.bloodstocknews.eu/current_issue/email_live_link.asp?e=carl.evans@btinternet.com&p=EBN2013-04-18.pdf

Tomorrow Frankenstorm will run at Andoversford, lets hope he puts the icing on the cake of a fantastic week!

19th April 2013

I have been totally flattered by the number of emails, texts and telephone calls I received congratulating me on the successful sales and the way the horses looked - it is heart warming to know that there are people within and outside the industry that can be pleased for others. As anyone involved in horses will know there are many bad days in this business and the good ones are very special, they should be bottled and only opened when the inevitable bad days arise.

An amusing link which I've taken off another site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0EV2SSNLss

This morning we worked Go Billy Go, Virtuoso Rouge, Net Work Rouge, Trouble Digger, Dark Tartan, Hopstrings and Frankenstorm. Gunner Road had a blow before being trach washed, the result was good and he will run tomorrow at Kingston Blount. It will be great to have Sam back riding our horses. He's been in and his ribs seem to have healed and he's mad keen to get going again for us. Frankenstorm will run at Andoversford on Sunday. Net Work Rouge and Virtuoso Rouge will wait a week and go to Woodford if they trach wash fine on Monday.

This evening we mist blowed the barn and got all the water troughs around the paddocks cleaned, we'll be chucking a few out tomorrow morning.

18th April 2013

A frantic successful 2 days at the sales, if anyone tries to tell you English p2p horses aren't commercial they are lying. Our 2 horses were in and out of their stables non stop for 2 days, everyone wanted to see them. Vazaro Delayafette sold to David Pipe for £160,000 and Knight Of Noir made £60,000 again bought by David Pipe. Fantastic results for us and UK pointing. Cestus made £62,000 and will go into training with Charlie Swan, Sergeant Thunder made £72,000 and was bought by Adien Murphy. It appears that it doesn't matter if your horse has won in England or Ireland as long as it ticks the right boxes and Vazaro Delayafette certainly appeared to do that. Knight Of Noir was possibly undersold. I think there will be many unhappy Irish vendors getting onto the boat this morning, I am not sure if the sales results lived up to their expectations. I think it is the result of too many crap Irish p2p horses having been sold for large sums of money in the past. It is interesting talking to the Irish vendors, they seem to agree with me that there is a lot of rubbish running in Irish point to points and moderate horses do win them! The results back that up and it appears that the purchasers are now realising it.

Today we will school, Trouble Digger, Go Billy Go, Net Work Rouge, Virtuoso Rouge, Hopstrings, Frankenstorm and Gunner Road. The Wills's will be here to watch their 2.

Frankenstorm will go to Andoversford, Virtuoso Rouge and Net Work Rouge will go to Woodford the following weekend.

Although we are happy the yard seems a bit empty and sad. We've all been looking after the same horses for 11 months and when they're gone we naturally miss them. It must be time to send some lads on holiday before we start to get busy again............

16th April 2013

I rode out Net Work Rouge early before setting off to Cheltenham with the sales horses. As expected they all passed the vet and have been well received. I have been told by many of the respected agents and trainers that they are 4 lovely horses and all look fantastic. This is testament to the team here, although I give the orders I can't do it on my own. Lets hope they sell well and we can re-stock starting in May at DBS and Tattersalls Ireland in June.

Sholto and the girls can't work out why I sell all the best horses. They are very cross that Sergeant Thunder has gone to the sales. He was the first horse stabled in the barn and always received plenty of attention off the children at evening stables. At least when they "make" a pony they'll be used to horses being sold!!!!!!! Not sure even I'm that hard. My best pony was sold when I was away at boarding school and I'm not sure if I've ever forgiven the person responsible.

Another early start tomorrow, Net Work Rouge will be ridden before I leave. Alice is going from home to Cheltenham and will have everything in perfect shape for 8 O'clock when the horses will be ready for showing - thank god for Alice, I'd be lost without here.

15 April 2013

The sales are upon us and it only seems as if we were in Ireland a few months ago buying the horses we are going to be offering for sale on Wednesday night - depressing in many ways and joyous in others. They are 4 lovely horses, all of which I think will sell well.

Trouble Digger is entered in the Lady Dudley Cup at Chaddesley Corbett and Virtuoso Rouge is in the Maiden there. Gunner Road is entered in the maiden at Kingston Blount and Frankenstorm in the maiden at Andoversford, nothing is set in stone and we will see where we are Thursday Friday time.

This afternoon I went across to Cheltenham and prepared the stables ready for our arrival tomorrow morning. We have 2 booked in to be vetted at 9 A.M and the other 2 immediately afterwards.

14th April 2013

A lot seems to have happened since I last blogged on 6th April - well it has. Finally, BT manged to fly someone in from Bangalore to get our internet connected!

Last week was very special as we trained our first bumper winner Sergeant Thunder at Ludlow. Cestus could have easily made it a double on the day but for an absolute farce of a start. I blame the jockeys not the starter. The jockeys know the rules and once the tape has gone up it has gone up! If a rider gets unseated after the tape has gone he is out of the race and the race is on. Cestus and others were 15-20 lengths behind the winner when they finally decided to jump off. Annoying as it is, that is racing and these things happen. Both horses will join Vazaro Delayafette and Knight Of Noir at the Cheltenham sale on Wednesday night. I think they are the 4 nice horses and should all make their money. I'd have no problem recommending anyone of them to anyone. In my job the last thing I want to do is sell a horse we have no faith in, when those all too often occassions arise they either go to Ascot or are given away. Hopefully, we are here for the long haul and want to build a reputation not destroy it.

Today, I drove to Maisemore to walk the course at 8 A.M. When I realised that the first race was 12.30 I saw no reason to come home and Alice would bring Net Work Rouge along later. I walked the course again after 3 races and decided not to run, the variables in the ground were ridiculous. Heavy, Good, Good to Soft and Soft, not the ground to run a baby on. In the finish there were only 3 runners in the race, even if he had won it, it would do nothing to enhance his value, he'll get his day. I will enter him at Woodford for the 2.4 mile and Virtuoso Rouge will run in the 3 mile maiden.

6th April 2013

Gunner Road, Net Work Rouge, Frankenstorm, Go Billy Go, Sergeant Thunder and Trouble Digger all worked on our wood-chip. Gunner Road will need another couple of gallops before he has a run, the cold snap that held us up hasn't helped him. He hadn't done as much as the others prior to it and it showed today in his work. Frankenstorm and Net Work Rouge will both go to Maisemore, Sergeant Thunder is likely to go to Ludlow, Wincanton or Fontwell on Thursday all depending on where Cestus goes  - if he goes anywhere.

Tomorrow we have to be out of our house, handing the keys back on Monday. BT as many of you will know are hopeless and we don't have the Internet in place at the farmhouse yet so there will be no further blogs until such time. Enjoy the sunshine, rain back later in week!

5th April 2013

Sam was in, we schooled Go Billy Go, Hopstrings, Frankenstorm, Virtuoso Rouge, Gunner Road and Net Work Rouge, all jumped well. Net Work Rouge, Frankenstrom and Gunner Road all have entries at Maisemore next weekend. Gunner Road may well go to Bitterley on Saturday, I think he'll act on the track and will run well. Sam also rode Trouble Digger who ran off with him! The others all had routine canters. Cestus and Sergeant Thunder have entries next Thursday at Ludlow, Wincanton and Fontwell, they will both be entered for Stratford on Friday too. Ground will depend on where either of them go if anywhere.

The managing agents of Pudlicote have been really helpful with our move, yesterday we had to manoeuvre 5 removals men and ourselves around a lady taking an inventory, a drainage contractor and electricians for most of the day. Today we had 3 plumbers and someone servicing the boiler. Not surprisingly, we are still floor to ceiling in cardboard boxes. The suggestion of leaving us where we were for another week while all this work was carried out was obvioulsy too simple. I've always been told that estate/land agents are too thick to do anything else and I think that statement may now be true.

I watched Sprinter Sacre who was mind blowingly impressive, unless I was mistaken he was gurgling when Alice Plunkett interviewed the jockey, it sounded as if he had dispalced his soft pallet, should this have been the case imgaine what we can expect to see if it is an issue that is resolved.

4th April 2013

All horses are well but are sick of this cold air and actually really dislike it. The weather is forecast to get warmer next week and it will be a relief to us all, the piercing cold wind is brutal.

This has been a testings week so far, moving house is a nightmare, I am a thrower away of things and my wife is a keeper, the clutter we have is beyond anyones imagination, we've filled 2 skips and I would have filled 4 given the chance.

We now have a house full of cardboard boxes from floor to ceiling in most rooms - it will not be sorted out overnight!

The Foxhunters was a good race but the start farcical, stronger penalties need to be enforced. There could be video referees and those breaking the tape or disobeying the starter should be expelled from the race. I have noticed the size of the National fences has reduced year on year and now in fact they look smaller than the regulation fences on the Mildmay course. The races over them are no more than glorified handicaps now.

3rd April 2013

Our house is becoming a shell and what remains resembles a bomb site - stressful to say the least. I am thankful of being such a tolerant person!

The horses all had routine canters, they are all fit and on tick over.

2nd April 2013

All the horses had routine canters this morning. Knight Of Noir and Virtuoso Rouge have both come out of their races well. If Virtuoso Rouge continues to give us the right vibes he will go to Chaddesley Corbett on 20th April, they will produce safe ground. Knight Of Noir will be joining Vazaro Delafayette in the Brightwells sale on 17th April. I hope to be able to add a couple more to the sale yet but the weather isn't helping. We have gone from bottomless ground to firm in the space of a week. 

After morning stables I spent an hour doing some invoices then I became a removals man. 

Sam will be in on Friday and we will school a few and work the next weekend runners. 

Reports from Seven Barrows suggest that Full Shift is as good as we always said he was! We need our horses to go on to be successful as British P2P horses still lack respect. Billy Biscuit has also settled in at Alan Kings and they too are happy. 

1st April 2013

A dreadful day, Medieval Gateway pulled up, his run was too bad to be true. Sadly, we lost a horse at home today, Connaught Square broke his leg just above the fetlock joint. The ups and downs in this job have no comparison to anything else I know.

The only good thing about today is Sholto's birthday cake.