Tomorrow we have got 2 at Salisbury Zingana and Simply and Spoke to Carlo goes up to Newmarket.  They should all run well but I particularly like the chances of Spoke to Carlo at Newmarket.

Right, off to sunny York, fingers crossed we come back with a smile!

I was hoping to have 3 runners tomorrow, 2 at Goodwood and 1 at Yarmouth all with chances, however they are inspecting at both courses first thing, so there is a real possibility that I may have no runners.  After that we may have one or two over the week-end, but the next big one is The Cheka in the Duke of York on Wednesday.  He did a lovely bit of work this morning and appears to be very well in himself, his form is working out very well and its full steam ahead to York.

Lunar Deity ran at Salisbury yesterday.  When we took the rugs off him in the paddock I said to the owners, wow he is a bit stouter than I thought!  He looked magnificent but certainly does himself well.  I was very pleased with his run but he got very tired in the ground and John Fahy just let him come home once he was beaten.  He had a really good blow and he will come on a huge amount for that run.

I was delighted to see Mayson win so well on Saturday, and everyone is rating him as a possible for the Group 1 sprints.  Great to know that he finished behind The Cheka at Doncaster!!  Chek himself is in great form.  He always runs well fresh so the aim was to keep our powder dry and we are off to the Duke of York a week on Wednesday.

I would love to have a winner or two before then and have good hopes for Midnight Feast today at Windsor.  He ran a good comeback race at Brighton and hopefully that will have sharpened him up for the shorter trip today.  Yurituni runs for the Ascot Colts and Fillies club at Kempton.  She has been in great form at home but has never shone on the all weather before.,  Today could be the day as she has a great draw, a good jockey and a lot of people cheering her on.

The week-end promises to be exciting, with not only the start of the classic season at Newmarket, but hopefully we may have a few nice horses going at Salisbury and then its bank holiday Monday with a few entered all over the place.  Fingers crossed the rain relents a bit, the ground gets a bit better and we can all get on with having runners and winners!!

This weather is so depressing!  I am sitting here watching the rain being blown horizontally across the window.  The ground is heavy everywhere, the racing is gruelling and it looks like it happens in slow motion.  I only had 3 runners last week, they all ran really well and we were slightly unlucky not to have a winner.  It doesn’t look like we are going to have too much next week, but hopefully it will dry up and warm up eventually and then we will be ready to go to war (like every other yard!!).

I’m off to walk the dogs, hope we don’t get blown away or drowned!

Meanwhile the filly had gone off to Compton with Mum on Yurituni in hot pursuit.  I rang my neighbour (for now) Jonny Portman, and he rushed off to try and catch, luckily she decided to go and have a cup of tea with Peter Cundell and was soon caught.  So, Cathy has had a plate put in her jaw, the filly has had a good exercise, and the members of Eden Racing and Silver Linings were treated to a day they will never forget.   This is the sort of morning I do not wish to have repeated very soon!

Get well soon, Cathy, you are one tough cookie and I expect you back in the winners enclosure very shortly!

We finally had some rain earlier in the week and could work on the grass on Wednesday, so had a big work morning which was a great success.  As a result I entered Vestibule in a race at Windsor…… 1st 2yo runner could be exciting!

Next week we are going to have a few more runners and from then on the season really gets going.

What a great start to the season.  First day, first runner and a winner.  I have been quoted extensively on this, but I have to say What a legend!  He really is a good horse.  He has had more than his fair share of injuries and is running with 2 screws in his front leg.  He is still quite lightly raced for a 6 year old, so if we can give him more options over 6f as well as 7f, it must be a good thing.

It is going to be a quiet week this week.  Nothing in till Saturday where Golden Tempest has been entered at Kempton, although with the glorious weather the horses are quite well forward, I have been unable to do much fast work as the gallops are starting to get quite firm.  It is due to rain tomorrow, so fingers crossed, we will be able to work on the grass tomorrow.

I was at Ascot yesterday, where Lovat Lane ran in a charity race and we also took Yurituni to parade.  She has been leased out to the Colts and Fillies club at Ascot which has been set up to encourage children to really enjoy racing.  So we had some of the kids come and meet her and ask me questions and then Ant and Dec who are the patrons of the club came and did the best turned out and presented the prizes for the race which was sponsored by the club.  All in all a great day.  We are looking forward to having some of the children come to the yard on Wednesday, to see behind the scenes and see what Yurituni gets up to at home.

Next Monday are the Stud & Stable Staff awards sponsored by Godolphin.  This year William Reddy, my long serving and at times long suffering head lad, has made it into the top 3.  He and his partner Janet are going up on Sunday night where he will have an interview and then they will be wined and dined along with the other finalists and put up in the Jumeirah Carlton Hotel.  I will then join them for a fabulous lunch, where hopefully, fingers crossed William will gets his award.  Hats off to Godolphin for not only sponsoring this event but for looking after all the finalists so well.  I will let you know on Tuesday how he gets on.

Lovat Lane runs at Kempton for what could be her last time.  Having won a race, running for the tuppence halfpenny that is on offer for her low grade races, gives nobody any great joy, so we are going to be looking for a new home and a new job for her after that.  Roodle is running in a listed race at Lingfield on Saturday.  It may well be too good for her, but we are hoping to nick a bit of black type before she goes to visit Bahamian Bounty.

You may think it has been cold here, but there it was down to -30 in the village!  In my absence, the staff, as always have been amazing and kept the show on the road.  Lovat Lane finally won, giving us our first winner this year, and off the dreaded cold list.  The best news was that William has got into the final 3 in his category in the stable staff awards!  I am so chuffed for him, we have nominated him every year since its inception and he thoroughly deserves his place there.  He is up against some very strong competition and lets hope that the judges see that staff from small yards are as deserving, if not more so, than the staff from the biggest yards.

For once, I can’t wait to go to an awards lunch and I will be keeping everything crossed that we come away with another winner.

The snow fell here last night, and we were all but snowed in for a couple of hours.  A few had to walk up the hill and Paul, the gallop man, went down with the tractor and trailer to pick up the horse feed and some much needed rock salt.  Luckily it has been a few degrees warmer this afternoon and the road is now fine, although quite wet so fingers crossed it doesn’t become a skating rink overnight!

We have got all the horses out everyday and so haven’t missed much in the way of work, especially at this time of year.  I really pity the national hunt boys.  All their horses are dressed up with nowhere to go and it must be so frustrating.  Full marks for the powers that be for putting on the bumpers for jumpers racecards.