Another busy week-end. On Saturday evening we went to a friends house for supper where we met the Thorne twins, two girls very much born and bred into a National hunt family, they used to stand a very popular stallion called Spartan Missile and they both race rode as youngsters as did their younger brother who was showing real promise as a jockey when he was killed in a car accident at the age of 18. Their father, John Thorne, who was a champion amateur jockey was tragically killed whilst racing at the age of 54, dreadful for the girls as they had just lost their brother, and Jane, one of the twins was supposed to ride the horse her father died on but had a change of mind as she wasn't feeling very well. Their mother had found another jockey to ride the horse but John insisted on taking the ride - the horse fell and he broke his neck.
It was really good to meet the girls who I had heard of many times - they were great company despite their tragic backgrounds.
On Sunday the Pytchley had their team chase. It is a great annual event where all the farmers from the area meet up. Doug was the commentator whilst I was in charge of the bar. Doug was hilarious and when there wasn't any horses going around kept on picking on unsuspecting 'friends' - taking the mickey (he hasn't been sued yet, so it was all taken in good humour..!) In the evening a crowd from the team chase went to Stu and Hen's cottage for supper.
This morning we had a new girl, Lucy, to help as Amy has gone to Scotland for the week. She isn't as good a rider as Amy but was nicely relaxed with the horses and should get on well enough. She is very enthusiastic about racing - we have really missed Georgie's enthusiasm, so she was quite refreshing to have around.