Break Time!

I know that a lot of the jockeys, including A P McCoy tend to head off to warmer climes for a well earned break during this week, although there will be no such luxury for me as more of the horses come back from their holidays.  I will still have my nose to the grindstone, although I will enjoy a round of golf at Jim Old’s Racing Charity day for the Injured Jockeys’ Fund at Marlborough on Monday.   Jim does an excellent job organising the event every year – it takes plenty of meticulous planning and organising to get all of the racing personalities together.  The day is always well supported and raises plenty of money for the IJF.

With the absence of racing over the sticks we are likely to have a couple of runners on the flat.  On Khee ran a lot better at Windsor three weeks ago and hopefully she will be able to build on that effort when she runs at Kempton on Wednesday.  She will be partnered by Willy Twiston-Davies who has been aboard a number of our flat runners lately and is very good value for his 7lbs claim.

It’s the Shergar Cup meeting at Ascot this weekend and we have made an entry for Ashbrittle in the Stayers’ handicap.  He was last seen in action at the Royal meeting in June when a somewhat unlucky in running eighth in the Ascot Stakes – his jockey that day, champion Paul Hanagan felt that interference inside the final couple of furlongs probably cost him a place.  Hopefully he will enjoy a clearer passage if he takes his chance.

Wasn’t Glorious Goodwood great?  With all of the drama surrounding the Olympic Games it is easy for other notable sporting events to get overlooked but as usual the Sussex track put on a great meeting on perfect ground.  We had a couple of runners at the meeting and Beyond in particular ran very well in the Goodwood Stakes over 2m5f.  Having set a decent pace he certainly wasn’t stopping in the closing stages and he could be in line for another tilt at Newmarket’s Cesarewitch – a race that he finished seventh in last year.

I was also lucky enough to witness another stunning performance from Frankel in the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday, in the process he became the first horse to win the race in successive years.    The only pity is that Sir Henry Cecil was not present to greet his megastar – we wish him a full and speedy recovery.  Frankel was awesome as everyone has come to expect, but I will be fascinated to see how he gets on over 1m2f in the International Stakes at York on 22^nd August.  He looks as though he will get further (and his breeding backs this up) and there is a chance he could prove to be even better over ten furlongs…that really would be something to savour.

Finally, I would just like to congratulate each and every British athlete who has won a medal at the Olympics so far.  Super Saturday was amazing and I found myself glued to the television in the evening as the Brits won medal after medal.  One of my secretaries, Gemma has been to the Olympic hockey and show jumping at the Games and she tells me that the atmosphere is really something to savour.  For me, the performances of Jessica Ennis, Andy Murray and the rest of the squad have been an inspiration and I hope that Team GB continues to excel for the remainder of the games and wish them well.  The nation as a whole can be very proud.