Wet and windy here today so a huge thank you to my team for coping with the weather and managing to get all the horses ridden out. 3rd Lot was the worst but Charlie & Chris Dee were here to look at their horses (and the horses Charlie has recently bought for us) and kindly provided much deserved bacon sandwiches for the team. Good to catch up with Chris & Charlie and they were pleased with their youngsters.
Belinda is back from her trip to Istanbul so thanks to all of you who helped her out when she lost her bag containing her passport, purse etc! Seriously though, apologies to all who received a spam email or two from us yesterday – Yahoo was apparently hacked a few years ago and that is when all the email addresses were stolen from BT accounts – change your passwords and you should be fine.
We didn’t run Spice Girl yesterday as the ground looked awful at Leicester and there are other options for her. A wasted trip – but not wasted as to run her in that ground could have bottomed her for the rest of the season so luckily with the support of her owners we brought her home.
One runner today at Catterick – Somewhere To Be goes under Aidan Coleman. A small field but a competitive one and we would like him to put a line through his last run and for him to travel and jump like he did to register his Lingfield win on his fencing debut. It’s my father Trevor’s birthday today so I’m picking my mum and dad up on the way – no pressure Somewhere To Be!
Last night Belinda went to a Racing Welfare Reception for Trainers in the South to showcase all they do for those in the Industry. (If you click the link you will see a smiley “jockey” on the front page – Belinda!) She said it was a fascinating evening and took a lot away from the night but was disappointed in the lack of suppport from the local yards as only Kim Bailey, Richard Phillips and a group of senior staff from a Gloucester yard were in attendance from Racing although Peter McNeile and Cheltenham’s Simon Claisse and Ben Hastie were also there. Staff in racing, breeding and pre-training have so much support and Racing Welfare are doing all they can to try and get the message across and we are so lucky to have them working with us and we are keen to work with them as much as we can.
Physio Hannah Ashton and Equine Dentist Tom Siddall in today.