The heart beats faster...

with the reappearance of the mighty Frankel this afternoon at Newbury.  Sadly I don't have the mental capacity to follow flat racing very closely but I do follow the Group races and I think the whole racing world is hoping that Henry Cecil might have a superstar on his hands, we'll have a better idea at 3.15 this afternoon.
A glorious Spring morning again, (various pics below) by this time of year I can start to feel a little weary as I plod up the brae in the early hours to start feeding the horses, the enthusiastic welcome I receive from the horses invariably cheers me up and today I was also greeted by the chirping of my friends returning from Africa - the swallows and house martins - early this year like the grass, the first batch tend to stay for a day or two before heading further North, they are followed by the summer residents later in the month.  They make an awful mess but I am intrigued and can't really bear to banish them.

A Spring Morning

Heading up the "all-weather"

and down again!

Recent arrival The Paddy Premium (Lucy Henry)

The Past and the Future - Wise Man and Solsgirth (winners of 8 races each for us) flank a 2yo by Generous and 4yo by Hellissio as they enjoy their first taste of spring grass

Forcefield ran an indifferent sort of race to finish 9th of 13 at Ayr yesterday, I think he needs more factors in his favour to compete properly in that class, I hope he will go to Perth in a couple of weeks.  Perfect ground at Ayr but on the p2p tracks it is drying up fast and much agonising is taking place as to whether to travel to Corbridge tomorrow and how to produce decent ground at Fife next week.  Next Saturday is the official end of the season, we could make our target of 10 winners with luck, we are on 8 and will have plenty to go to war with next Saturday at Fife, Carlisle and Kelso, all reliant on decent ground though and I will try not to be tempted into taking any chances...