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Farewell, wet August (and google blogger)

So, August ends, a chill in the air, autumn mists, horses hungry and aggressive at breakfast time.  Builders finished (for now!), gallop and schools all sorted, website complete, new software up and running, stables full, youngest back to school - times move on, busy but lots to look forward to and forecast set fair.
Routine work this morning, mostly on the all-weather, final spin on some of the grass before it was harrowed twice and top-dressed with seed in some areas, will be rolled and given a little tickle of fertilizer over the weekend then rested for a month, badly need the weather forecast to be correct or it will be all-weather only! Schooling fences and hurdles scheduled to go out early next week but been giving them plenty of jumping in the school this week, most particularly yesterday when Here's to Harry, Papamoa, Spinning Away, Buffalo Ballet, Elmaatigra, Issabella Gem, Makhzoon, Bertie Milan and Academy did lots showing varying degrees of competence, all going well in the end though!

Lucy on Lillioftheballet, how many "Dregs" will make it to "Rasen"

Lucy in action at Market Rasen tomorrow where she rides Altnaharra in the 4.45, Lillioftheballet in the 5.20, Carrietau in the 6.25 and Toshi in the 6.55.
Well, here endeth the grillionth blog on "google blogger"- from tomorrow I will be boring you via a new platform which will also form the core of the new website.  The latter is still slightly a work in progress so please bear with us and also any technical hitches I may have with "wordpress" - if you want to continue following there will be an opportunity to register on the site to be alerted when it is updated and I will also continue to alert via facebook and twitter.
If you decide that this is the perfect excuse to cease reading my drivel then I don't blame you and thank you for being with me so far.... however, be aware, the story is only just beginning........

Wet Wednesday

Rain again today and log burner looking tempting from the other end of the office but it's still August and heartened by the forecast.  Weather induced focus on the all-weather and schools today, although we haven't been on the main grass gallops yet the other areas have taken a bit of a hammering so plans are in hand to repeat the normal spring restoration work later this week and then rest them for a month, hopefully before too long we should have some stubble to use and if the forecast is correct the riverbank should be back in action again next week.

Of course there's nothing wrong with the all-weather, 90% of racehorses in training never use anything else, I think it's just me that gets a bit bored and prefers to throw in a bit of variety.  No runners planned over jumps until the end of September, perhaps the odd foray on the flat before then.  An average sort of evening at Sedgefield yesterday for Lucy, two also rans and a fall from a 100-1 chasing debutant, not ideal, today she heads to Catterick where she rides Tongalooma in the 5.10, a sprint on the flat, thereafter it looks like being Market Rasen on Saturday.

Monday

A fine Sunday here yesterday and OK so far this morning but a wet and windy afternoon in store.  A quiet-ish Sunday, making plans, shuffling horses around, working on the new website hoping we will be ready for 1st September launch.  Quick trip into Edinburgh to drop Kit at station, assuming he found his way there he is due to start work this morning for Nicky Henderson, a month's secondment, hopefully he will come home armed with new ideas, his mathematical brain has been usefully deployed here recently with the assistance of GPS and heart-rate equipment, some interesting analysis emerging, you never know - I might end up being able to tell when a horse is fit!
A rare chance to read the Sunday papers, the two Golf Clubs which are unfortunate enough to have me as a member are coming in for quite a lot of flak regarding their male only membership policy; this is only likely to intensify in the lead up to the 2013 Open at Muirfield, it's a very tricky issue and I don't envy those on the relevant committees.  One hates seeing the Members being portrayed as a bunch of  neolithic misogynists but  they shouldn't be forced to have an any sex policy just because they happen to play golf, it would need to be applied across the board which would have implications for many other institutions.  I wonder what would happen if an existing male member had a sex change operation, at what particular point would they no longer be admitted to the changing room?  Must have a look at the Club Rules, not that I am planning anything of course!  Personally, whilst I don't necessarily agree with it, change is inevitable at some stage and Clubs might be better to be proactive before they find themselves backed into a corner.

Fleet Fox

Some jumping this morning for Buffalo Ballet, Four Fiddlers, Papamoa, Issabella Gem, Makhzoon and Fleet Fox, others in the schools and on the all-weather. Cartmel abandoned today, Sunderland home game abandoned on Saturday but 15 miles down the road they are watering at Sedgefield for their meeting tomorrow - such is the nature of this barmy climate, Lucy is there to ride Word of Warning in the 4.40, Itstooearly in the 5.10 and Isitcozimcool in the 6.10, the last evening meeting of the year, so that was summer...

Boots and things...

A lot of things have made me happy this week but none more so than Teddy Grimthorpe's report in the Racing Post that Henry Cecil ate a lobster, a grouse, and even pudding in his box at York after Frankel's win on Wednesday. I think everyone was a little taken aback at how ravaged by illness he looked, but he has been there before and we can only pray that his fortitude will once again see him through.  I was also happy to hear that Sir Henry had bought some sets of the extremely expensive equine boots for soft tissue therapy that I rather nervously bought at Blair Castle International  Horse Trials yesterday.  Almost as expensive as the boots that I bought for myself, dangerous place for the wallet.  Also happy with the state of the horses that have stepped up to full work, they seem healthy and strong, a few more stepping up next week.

On the Riverbank

Some of the new boxes

Happy to have six new stables finished, an excellent job and a bit of a queue waiting to take occupancy, added to this week by Back on the Road, a grand type who has come over from Ireland and will point-to-point and Hunter Chase for brother Jamie.  Happy to have a big stack of haylage and a shed full of hay, miraculous considering what the weather has thrown at us; even this week it has rained every day in one way or another, the farm is sodden, harvest looms.

Horses grazing with cattle at a soggy Kinneston

Bitter sweet...

The Paddy Premium

Well, what a week so far, the power of sport to transcend life has never been as apparent as it has been this summer and sitting here on Thursday afternoon I feel mildly shattered.  It started on Tuesday at Perth where after yet another monsoon racing went ahead in extremely wet conditions;  The Paddy Premium having his swansong at his local track, just denied by the narrowest of margins in a driving finish by Silver Steel ridden by, guess who,  Lucy, bitter sweet doesn't begin to describe the mixture of emotions!  And half an hour later Lucy struck again on Spirit of a Nation to record her first double at her local track.

  Why wasn't she riding our horse?  Because at declaration time he was lame and had been for the previous three days, we knew what the problem was and hoped that the combined efforts of our vet, farrier and team might just have him right on the day - fortunately they did and he came so very close to having a fairytale ending to his career.  Hmm, you never know, there may need to be one more chapter.

Lucy is narrowly denied her first treble

King Brex (Kit)

And then to York yesterday, an astonishing pilgrimage of 30,000 racing people to pay homage to the mighty Frankel as he faced his greatest test;  his superiority was awesome and the reception he received like nothing I have ever known, simply wonderful and made especially poignant by the presence of his frail but masterful trainer.  

Frankel with a jubilant Tom Queally, most probably the best horse of our lifetimes

Summer Days

Seem to be a very fleeting experience this year and the heavens opened again yesterday afternoon with the result that unfortunately it will be soft ground at Perth again.  Although it is unlikely to suit our three runners we will be pleased to be racing and grateful to the course for staging this extra fixture helped by a new sponsor, Alistair Cochrane, whose company PPS also sponsors the Kinneston team clothing, most helpful - especially in winter! We hope to run; The Paddy Premium in the 2.55, Richard Johnson rides and 6 run, Balwyllo in the 4.25 with Lucy on board and stable debutante King Brex in the 4.55 with Kit riding.  Lucy also rides Purkab in the 2.25, Silver Steel in the 2.55, Spirit of a Nation in the 3.25, Colditz in the 3.55 and Toshi in the 4.55 - that will be six in a row for her, busy busy.

Trainer relaxing last week in Donegal,  the sun shone, seems an age ago

Back here this morning tomorrow's runners popped over a few hurdles (along with ground driven late scratching Goldtrek) and Makhzoon, Buffalo Ballet, Four Fiddlers and Papamoa did plenty of jumping over poles, the rest were in the school and on the all-weather.  Academy and Elmaatigra were back into work and Isla Pearl Fisher and Forcefield are in from the field and will be shod tomorrow.