We had a good day yesterday - not brilliant but really quite satisfactory. The weather was wonderful and the crowds were out in force. Dove was in the second race and was completely chilled out, almost too chilled, I think she is coming into season - anyway, she started beautifully jumped like a stag, jumping herself to the front after five fences, she was still in the lead four fences from home but ended up getting swallowed up by the leading trio, and came home in her own time a very creditable 5th, having just been pipped on the line for 4th. It was a very hot race and she beat some good horses, and most importantly she enjoyed herself which means she will (hopefully) want to race again, and we will be more competitive next time. Ed got a real buzz from riding her and was over the moon.
Then it was Harry's turn - Harry was going alarmingly well (almost getting too confident) had just pulled himself to the leading pair when he stood off a fence and hit it hard. Peter did brilliantly to sit it but he lost an iron and put all his weight on one side, which made the saddle slip right round and he fell off. He was furious as he thought the horse was travelling so well and up until then he was delighted with his jumping. He is definitely improving and we were particularly pleased that he kept with the pace as up until then we thought he was a little slow and could only go on soft ground.
Overall, it was a great days racing with no disasters and a huge crowd which is all good for the finances of the hunt.
Will was there with his broken leg and Ben was also there with his fractured wrist - we seem to be getting through our jockeys at a worrying rate! Hopefully Ben will be back in the saddle soon but before that we are hoping to run Jake in a hunter chase at Towcester on the 20th with Peter on board as he needs to be kept up to his work and it will be good to see if he is capable of jumping those bigger fences and whether he can go the pace of a hunter chase as that might be where his future lies.