Newcastle

Some steady work on a slushy snow covered all-weather this morning, one trot and a couple of canters was all that was possible, at least it's melting, albeit slowly.

We run Seeking Power in the 2.10 at Newcastle tomorrow, 8 run, Lucy rides and he should have a good chance if the forecast rain arrives, if not then I suspect everything might happen a little quickly for him.  The meeting is subject to an 8am inspection and they are looking at 1pm to see if Kelso's Wednesday meeting can go ahead.

Seeking Power at Hexham in November

well I never..

I can't believe it, "c'est incroyable," an expected light dusting of snow turned out to be four inches on Friday night & just about the same again last night, having almost seen the back of the stuff we have heaps of it everywhere again, were it not for a splendidly mild forecast I would be feeling quite glum.  Can't really understand why they had to close the airport again though ruining thousands of people's holiday plans etc, come on, four inches, it stopped just after midnight and they have to close it on a busy Saturday until mid-day, how can little old me keep my drive open with my little 40HP tractor and a 1.2m snowplough and they can't keep the runway clear, pathetic I say, asleep on the job.  Hmm, and I feed 30 plus horses first, I think I must just be more concerned about the negative consequences for me personally of my staff not being able to arrive at work at 8am than they are of cancelling and delaying dozens of flights... I suppose the man in charge of the airport probably just goes back to bed for the morning. (well I'm sure he doesn't but it does seem extraordinary). I bet they managed this morning though as the most important man in China was due to arrive in Edinburgh, don't think he would have thought much of them if he'd been diverted on account of a drop of snow.
Anyway, horses all three times up the all weather in deep fresh snow yesterday, on the walker today & goodness knows what tomorrow but they seem in good order and hopefully the weather will allow us to take up some of our engagements this week at Newcastle, Kelso and Musselburgh.  Belated stable night out in the pub last night, quite an eye opener, very entertaining, makes me feel a bit old though, nearly cranked up the snowplough on my return home, with hindsight very wise to have thought twice about that, would not have been a good move... 

Buffalo Ballet

Appears that the early point-to-point fixtures are under threat, conditions have prevented the organisers from preparing the courses, due to kick off two weeks today there is a sensible proposal being suggested that might involve the first Alnwick fixture moving back a week as Kelso look unlikely to be ready in time, we are all keen to get going and welcome as flexible an approach as possible.

Brr

Minus 6 this morning and still minus 3 this afternnon, all water bowls and taps frozen again but it's a dry cold and we were able to open up the all-weather this morning and all the horses (20 now!) exercised on it and in the school, we will work hard on the surface in the hope of giving most of them some serious work on it tomorrow. 

Forecast indicates a little snow turning to rain and milder temperatures early next week, let's hope it is correct as we have plenty of entries at Newcastle, Kelso and Musselburgh.

today

it was Amulree, Commercial Express and Noir et Vert's turn to go to the beach; I wasn't there but they all came back in one piece.  Back here things have dried up a little so we are able to keep the latest frost out of the all-weather and all the other horses exercised on it and in the school; it seems to be just about the only gallop in the area that isn't frozen so we had a few visits from local trainers, I think about 35 horses in all were on the gallop, it felt a bit like Newmarket!
Grania the physio has also been in and has been going through most of the horses in scrupulous detail with Gillian, I try to tell her as little as possible in advance about my concerns and am amazed by how they pick up so many things that have been on my mind.
Entries now made for Kelso, need to see whether we have anything for Catterick next Thursday now..

Back to the beach

Back to the beach today with Almost Blue, Skipping Chapel and Daasij, all fresh and well, particularly Skipping Chapel whose brakes appeared not to work with the result that he visited parts of the Eden estuary seldom visited by non-acquatic creatures...... full of beans afterwards though.  Most of the others worked on the all-weather which continues to improve and the Ayr runners went for a long hack up into the forestry.
Entered up now for Newcastle Tuesday and finalising entries for Kelso Wednesday, they think they have a chance of racing at both but will need the more favourable elements in the long term forecast to come to the fore, fingers crossed!

At last..

.. we were racing again, Ayr managed to stage the first jump racing in Scotland since November and the going was on the soft side of good.  We ran Forcefield and Northern Flame on Sunday, the former was having his first outing over hurdles and as we hadn't managed to do as much schooling as we would have liked the principal object was to introduce him to jumping at racing pace, I was delighted with the way he jumped and though he was a little outpaced 5f out he galloped on strongly to the line, there should be plenty more to come.  Northern Flame ran with much more purpose than on his debut and put up a very encouraging effort over a trip that will prove well short of his optimum.  On Monday we ran Native Coll who didn't appear to handle the better ground and was niggled along when he slipped on landing after the 10th to give us our first faller since December 09, sadly we didn't have to wait as long for our next one as half an hour later Isla Pearl Fisher got in too tight and fell at the last fence having just taken up the lead, agonising, but all horses and jockeys are fine and at least we know the horses are still healthy and fit despite what the weather has thrown at us over the last six weeks.
Back here conditions are still tricky but 80% of the "all-weather" is in good order and most of the horses worked on it this morning, a few more beach parties are planned and hopefully the weather will continue to open up to allow us to use some of the other facilities here, all being well we will have our next runners at Newcastle on Tuesday but Kelso on Wednesday looks doubtful.

Happy New Year..

Four Fiddlers, Seeking Power and Native Coll enjoy Hogmanay at St Andrews

 .. to everyone, may it be peaceful, happy and prosperous. Sadly the smoked lobster failed the sniff test and ended up in the bin but fresh supplies are promised from the Hebrides, think Mrs A might bave inadvertently fed it to the dog though judging by the New Year surprise it had for me this morning, ah the joys, of course we are in the midst of the usual New Year routine of preparing horses, kit, staff and logistics for racing at Ayr tomorrow which will most probably be cancelled as they are forecast minus 5 tonight, gives me something to do I suppose, who wants to laze around eating and drinking (me, actually - so I cram plenty of that in too!). Greatly heartened though by being able to use (most of) the gallop again and unbelievably we were able to school on grass this morning for the first time since the twenty somethingth of November; Isla Pearl Fisher popped over the fences and Forcefield and Northern Flame over the hurdles. The latter two are due to run at Ayr tomorrow, in the 12.20 and 12.50 respectively, Lucy rides the first and Paddy Aspell the second, maximum fields of course but who cares so long as we manage to race. On Monday Native Coll and either Isla Pearl Fisher or Seeking Power are due to run depending on conditions. On another subject, am I the only person on the planet that wants to chuck up when I read of what "Sir" Elton has been up to, I really can't bear it, at least it will be interesting trying to guess who the "donor" was as Zachary grows up, if he needs thick glasses and is wearing a toupe at the age of 3 then we'll know.....