A long day but great to have two horses back safe and sound. Rock ran a blinder and came fourth but clearly needs a breathing operation so he is going to see Ben Brain on Tuesday. He made a slight whistle on the gallops when he first came to us but it has got gradually worse and we had already told Ben to expect him. He looked magnificent in the paddock, and we were delighted with the way he behaved, compared to when we took him to Larkhill where he got very stressed. He even won best turned out which brings the girls tally up to three so far.

Jake, however, tailed himself off completely and was last of ten runners, twenty four lengths from the leading pack. On the second circuit he tried a bit harder and ran on strongly to come fifth, but had left it too late to catch the front runners. It was a bit disappointing but not entirely unexpected as he did exactly the same at Chipley Park when the ground was similarly sticky which he hates. He is a bit of a monkey and may need cheek pieces on his next run, but we know he always improves dramatically once he has had some sun on his back and when his coat comes through, so we are not giving up with him yet.

It is the first time we have had runners at Brocklesby and I was really impressed. A lovely track, very  competitive racing and where the stewards couldn't do enough to help. Really friendly and although rather a long way, we will definitely be back