There was some great and very competitive racing at Larkhill on Sunday. We went particularly to see Velvet Dove's 6 year old by Midnight Legend have his first run. We sold him to Nick Phillips and Dibbie Brown trains him. He was named 'Smoking Pidgeon'.  He looked stunning in the paddock but was slightly lively (just like his Mum used to be) so Doug had to go in to help Dibbie out. At one point he reared up and hit Doug in the face, adding to the black eye he had already received from Jasper (the foal)  the day before. However, as soon as the jockey got on board he became very workmanlike and went down to the start like a very grown up boy. I was SO nervous as there had been an awful lot of nasty falls in previous races but he did everybody proud. He was right up with the leading group, right on the heels of the Trevor Hemmings horse when he got slightly unsighted and blundered the open ditch three from home - He stayed on his feet but the jockey fell off, which probably wasn't such a bad thing for his first run as he finished the race still full of running and seemed to love every moment. It was certainly a very encouraging run though and they will have a lot of fun with him in the future. I have to say that I think in the future we are going to have such fun watching our homebreds race. Although I was nervous it was no where near as bad as watching one that you have trained yourself going round, it is also a lot cheaper!

Velvet Dove's youngster, 'Smoking Pidgeon' after the race, doing his mother proud.