At last! We have had a winner! Velvet Red won at the Oakley on Sunday. It was such a relief to get a winner under our belt from the new yard as I was beginning to wonder whether we were always going to be plagued with bad luck from here. Red ran really nicely and although there were only six in the race, she went to the front a little sooner than we would have liked and then three horses jumped the third fence from home together, the favourite fell when beaten, she then got in rather close at the second fence from home and the second favourite came alongside. At this point we thought she was going to be pipped at the post but she flew the last fence and finished in front drawing away. I have forgiven her now for dumping me last Friday!

Velvet Dove was her normally quirky self. Because of the fast ground there were only four in the race which we thought would suit her nicely. Doug led her down to the start and she seemed really calm, the flag went down, Doug went to let her go but then, would you believe, the hot favourite, another mare called Pennytino, flatly refused to start, so the starter had to call them back. This reminded Dove that this was her party piece, and when the starter dropped the flag both her and Pennytino stood there like mules - the two geldings galloped off. Will took his feet out of the irons and gave her a prod in the ribs with the dummy spurs that we had asked him to wear. She then decided that she would quite like to chase the boys and off she went in hot pursuit - at this point they were two fences in front. Will jumped the first two fences with no irons! One of the boys then fell and she just had the one to catch. It seemed an impossible task as he was so far ahead and a very decent horse. however she amazingly caught him up on the second circuit and even managed to get her head in front but because she had burned up so much gas catching him and hadn't had time to take a breather she couldn't keep that pace up to the line but came a very game second. She seemed very pleased with herself though and hopefully quite enjoyed it. She doesn't make life easy for herself as she would have won that race by a distance if she had started with them. We will give her one more chance and if she is still reluctant will put her in foal.