Hot! Thanks to my team for starting even earlier than usual to ensure that the horses are ridden out in the coolest conditions possible. As you know, I very much like to turn the horses out as much as possible and it’s been too hot to turn them out in the day – they’d rather be in their cool boxes so the horses have been staying in during the day and being turned out in their paddocks overnight and it seems to work well.
Worcester today with two runners. Our first runner is HRH The Princess Royal’s homebred gelding, Cloud Formation, who ran a much improved race over hurdles for us last time out. He was partnered that day by James Best, who is again in the saddle today, and congratulations to James and his wife Izzy as she gave birth to their second child, a brother to Ollie, two days ago. He seems well and, for a horse who is hard to keep condition on, looks well too. I’m hopeful that he could put in another solid run and finish in the placings.
In the following race Sean Bowen partners Cut And Run for our Martin Keighley Racing Club. She was so unlucky last time at Worcester coming off worse when some inexperienced riders around her concertinaed up approaching the home bend and she lost lots of places. However, she still did all she could to get back into it and did well to finish 5th. Therefore the run is much better than the bare form suggests and I think she’ll run a blinder today.
The boys have broken up so we have an additional work rider in Freddie who was keen to be back part of the string riding out again. He rode Pinnacle Peak and City Never Sleeps this morning.
Younger brother Harry had his last day at Primary School yesterday so a few tears from his mother (not him!). They have both had a wonderful start at Temple Guiting School and Belinda has done the school run most days for 9 years so emotions were high!
We had a wonderful Leavers’ evening in glorious sunshine on Tuesday night where I provided the paella which went down well and then scored a goal in the Dads vs Lads footie afterwards and, had I not hit the cross bar, we would have won! The lads quickly scored and it was game over!
A fun evening and the kids and us have no doubt made friends for life. Two of Harry’s best mates will be in his tutor group at The Cotswold School and his other best mate, Monty, is off to Chipping Campden School but he’s here with his brother today to have a day of football in the sunshine in between dips in the pool I’ve made for them! The summer hols have begun!
