On Friday we did our first proper piece of work in the big grass field and we are still recovering!! -The horses were fine but it is surprising how strong they are in that field and how much 'jockey' fitness it takes to keep them all together for three miles and not get galloped off with. Doug and I were walking like John Wayne all weekend and Kerry and Will were both suffering - Pete would never admit it but even he looked a bit red faced when we pulled up. We have got our owners morning on this Friday where we like to show the owners how their horses are coming on and we were having a bit of a practice run but it was pretty chaotic - The problem seems to be that all the horses are extremely well and they all want to be at the front. Hopefully it will be 'alright on the night'!

Last year  - how it SHOULD be done!

We normally do four owners mornings - the first on the grass field, then the second on the round, the third on the uphill gallop and then finally schooling over the fences by which time the horse should be ready to run. 

We went to Cheltenham on Saturday and had a lovely day. It was beautifully mild and there was a huge crowd. It was interesting to see Andy Kelly run who is a half brother to Glory Hunter (Murphy) - he was backed into 4-1 favourite but it was clear he needed the run. He is very similar to Murphy in that he was full of enthusiasm and just wanted to get on with it. He got quite hot in the paddock and sure enough blew up three from home but will come on enormously from the run and is more of a Kempton horse. If Murphy only has half his ability he will win plenty of races.