With a cooler feel in the air today it’s freshened everything up and it does feel like the first day of the new term at school! We’ve got the full team of staff back in after holidays, although a few still have some time to take off, and Freddie returned back to Ditcheat last night after what felt like a bonus week off for him as they were quiet last week and didn’t need him – sounds like they are very busy today!
It’s been a month since my last blog … we have had just a handful of runners and, as well as a couple of days at Royal Ascot and it was great to see so many of you there, our first visit to Wimbledon which was a fabulous experience. We went on Quarter Finals Day and were in Court One to watch Linda Noskova, the eventual 2026 Ladies Final winner and also Men’s eventual Runner Up, Alexander Zverev win his Quarter Final. A huge highlight was the atmosphere on Henman Hill watching Arthur Fery too.
We’ve also had a family week in Portugal where we were surprised but thrilled to bump into owner Leigh Powell on our first evening and also the Rowe Family who we shared a fabulous lunch with – Vilamoura was popular as there were plenty of other racing folk there too! Back and refreshed, we are definitely now ready to kick on again and are so excited about the season ahead with lovely horses and so much support.
We’ll be begging for rain soon though – it’s so dry everywhere and some of the horses are in earlier than usual due to the goodness having gone out of the grass. We have been adapting our day to suit the horses and the weather with the horses all going out in their paddocks when it’s cooler overnight and then coming back in first thing, being ridden out earlier, again to keep them cool, and then staying in their stables, which are much cooler, all day. We are fortunate that we can change things to suit our individual horses and are very grateful for the hard work of the team who change the timings of their days to also suit the needs of our horses best.
Whilst we didn’t have any runners at Worcester last Friday evening, our Racing Club sponsored two races (one was split) as we celebrated our annual Racing Club Picnic in the centre of the course near the last fence. We had a super turnout and a good time was had by all. Some stayed to listen from our Picnic area to the Abba tribute band after the last race…some went across to enjoy it at closer quarters..!
We have a few entries later on in the week but haven’t had many recently due to the excess heat and the quick ground. We’ve been enjoying the football and obviously following England, plus Wimbledon and an F1 at Silverstone to watch in between – it’s been a superb summer so far of sport. In the meantime, do come and visit us – I think I can guarantee good weather!