The build up to The November Meeting this weekend at Cheltenham is traditionally one of our busiest times of the year and this year is no exception! Although we’ve not had many runners over the past few days, we’ve been frantically catching up with owners and there is so much planning for this weekend and for the horses until well after Christmas too.
Our Haylage and Bedding suppliers, Ollie Garner and Steve Adams of RSN Stow kindly invited us to their Bonfire & Fireworks party on Saturday night which was a fun night and the boys loved the fireworks. We caught up with more friends at The Feathered Nest in Nether Westcote on Sunday – somewhere we’ve not been to for quite a while but it certainly didn’t disappoint and we can highly recommend it for a special occasion. Great to see Dinah Nicholson keeping her garden as immaculate as ever just up the road from the pub!
Yesterday we had visits from Mark Boothright and from Bobble Emerald’s part owner David Bishop who is still on Cloud 9 (and so he should be!) following Bobble’s Cheltenham win a few weeks ago. David and his wife Janne live locally at Great Rissington and are so helpful and a big part of our team and it really was fabulous to train them a Cheltenham winner.
Work morning today and we worked plenty with jockeys Andrew Tinkler and Conor Shoemark in plus ex-stable jockey Warren Marston. Three runners today at two different courses so a busy day. Somewhere To Be goes to Lingfield with Leighton Aspell for his debut over fences and his seasonal debut too. He’s done plenty of schooling and has been good at home – as you would expect (bred by owner Zara Tindall!) and although he hasn’t managed to get his head in front over hurdles, I’m hoping the switch to fences will bring about even more improvement. Jamie Goldstein is in charge at Worcester where My Lad Percy returns from 753 days off the track and is partnered by Tom Bellamy in the 2m 4f Handicap Hurdle. He’s been recouperating from a leg injury at Claire Hardwicke’s Adlestrop base and been back here for quite some time now so although he will come on for the run I’m hopeful he’ll have an enjoyable return today. Cup of Ambition has been frustrating recently after showing plenty of promise but has had niggly problems which we are hoping we are on top of. He wears cheekpieces today to help him concentrate and has the assistance of Aidan Coleman in the saddle and we are hoping for a bolder show today.