We had a busy family weekend with no runners although we were racing at Ascot on Saturday which was a good day. We were fortunate enough to be invited by Great British Racing to be part of their launch of Under 18s Race Free – an initiative to encourage the racegoers of the future to go racing over the summer. Strictly Come Dancing’s Presenter Tess Daly is heading it and she is just as she looks on the tv and was natural and made the boys as relaxed as possible for the camera. In fact our normally noisy Harry was almost mute for the day – we thought we’d brought the wrong child!
Ascot put on so much for the family on Saturday which was great but so many other courses do now too and with so much to do – it is such a good day out, as most of us already know, but it’s just a case of getting the word out there and encouraging newcomers to the sport. We look forward to seeing the clips of the filming from Saturday and to helping GB Racing to spread the word.
What a day of sport yesterday. Not enough TV screens with so much action but a day I’m sure not many of us will forget in a hurry. We had a sporting occasion in the morning too as Harry had his 9th Birthday Party at home and a Football Party (as usual!) was his choice and, as we were possibly going to have runners at Stratford, we chose the morning slot which then worked well for watching the sport in the afternoon! Harry, Freddie & 16 boys had a brilliant football match and fun was had by all. Luckily I could enjoy it as it’s his birthday tomorrow and I’m at Southwell evening racing so miss the boys in their school play too. I’m sure I’ll hear all about it and the pressure is now on for me to provide him with a birthday winner!
Leighton Aspell and Conor Shoemark in this morning to school the horses on the loop. We schooled Chequered View, Mr Mafia, Fairmount, Cotswold Prince, Cut and Run, Lord Condi, Gold Mountain, Capital Force and Primogeniture and they all schooled well. Jon Hughes was here too overseeing proceedings especially the horses he is involved in and he was equipped with his camera so fortunately nothing went wrong!
A usual busy Monday morning in the yard too with farrier Nick Partridge, physio Maggie Turner and vet Jeremy Swan here. No runners today.
Happy Birthday to owner Sharon Lovett – hope Graham is spoiling you today!