I have a runner tonight – Cheddar George goes in the 6:55 at Kempton. Last time he ran he came with a late run that looked as if it was going to get him there, but he stopped suddenly. As it happened he had burst a blood vessel – not a great sign but the first time he had done …

Last Thursday was a big night out in town. The evening kicked off well when Wolf Slayer finally broke her duck at Wolverhampton. I’d only realised she was running late on in the day and I was on the tube at the time of the race, but it was nice to see her finish one in front. We may keep …

I bought a foal on Friday – by Nayef out of a Bahri mare called Patacake Patacake. She’s extremely well related – her three brothers to race all achieved black type and two of them had best Timeform ratings north of 110. Consistency is the thing for me – I think any mare can produce a group performer if the …

It’s been a busy week. On Monday I had an early meeting with Simon McGivern, CEO of a company called Ila. I invested in them quite a while back and I hadn’t thought much of it – they had done well. Simon showed me their range of security products. They included a padlock with letter instead of numbers. Simon assured …

Another busy weekend behind me – my weekends are far more hectic than my weekdays now. On Saturday Jane was playing a prominent role at the school fair, which she always does – I was left to entertain the boys for the day and there was little time to follow the racing. We had a quiz in the evening at …

Forgive me father for I have sinned – it’s been two weeks since my last confession… I’m on a diet at the moment and I’m tired all of the time – I’m well behind on emails and too sleepy to blog in the evening. Hopefully there will be longer term benefits. Winding back to Tuesday 9th; We got up early …

It was a busy weekend. Saturday was our big fireworks night – living on a farm with a lot of building work going on we are an obvious choice to host and we do it every year. We’d been building up the bonfire for a while now, and it was fully 12 feet high built mostly of used pallettes. I’d …

Annoying on Wednesday as Cheddar George burst a blood vessel in his run and finished with blood pouring from his nose. He was held up pretty much in last place when Holland asked him for his effort in the straight. He was making rapid headway when he came to a sudden halt – I had guessed what had happened before …

A disappointing weekend with Whey Sauce well beaten in her attempt to get black type. Her work at home suggests she’s better than that, but there’s no hurry with her – she’ll be a different proposition next year. A shame nevertheless. Western Eyes ran a moderate race at Wolverhampton finishing fifth at 33-1. She may yet win a small race …

Sunday Bess lost out in her maiden by a nostril. It was annoying as I’d had a bet, but I was hoist by my own petard. I have a policy with 2yos that I don’t like them hit on their first run – Richard gave Bess one small crack of the whip but didn’t want to hit her again. There …