On Thursday we schooled Quebec and Baltic Storm with Harry Bannister on one and David Crosse on the other and they both jumped beautifully.
In the evening we were treated to dinner at the Queens Arms by Goffs and I think the only reason I was invited was because I owe them so much money for horses I have bought this season.
Terry Simmons, Jill and Andy Stone came over to see the horses and we had a nice supper in the Malt. I had an American Trainer and his wife staying the night as they had an owner wanting to ride out with a view to buying a horse and the next day the owner called Alexander turned up. He was dressed in a tweed cap a tweed jacket, jeans and suede brogues to ride out. The horse is a very safe ride and they got on really well. It is with a view to buying something to ride in America.
We had 16 people turn up from the Steeplechasers syndicate and we watched their 3 horses working on the gallops. We had drinks in the office afterwards then a very jolly lunch in the Malt which went on for quite some time.
After they had all left I went home to watch Gowanauthat at Stratford. He ran an amazing race and managed to win his 5th chase in a row. He is an extraordinary little horse and he has now gone up 41 lb so life will get a lot tougher.
On Sunday I got Tommy to drive me down to Paul Nicholls open day. It was very satisfying going there knowing I have a much higher strike rate for this season than he has. He also hasn't got a horse that has won 5 in a row. I always feel a bit depressed leaving his open day as you realize what a serious team of horses that we have to take on. He only paraded 83 of his horses but after seeing 5 of them an owner of mine and myself retired to the lunch tent to share a bottle of wine. It was a very good day and Bobby Davro was hilarious.
We pulled out very early on Monday as Sam had to drive 2 of my lads to Slough to get them National Insurance numbers. It should have been 3 lads as I had a very good Frenchman who came up to me in San Sebastian and asked me for a job. I spent a fortune on accommodation for him and after only two weeks he thanked me for the job and said goodbye. He went to Newmarket that day and is now working for William Haggas. The staff shortage in Racing is a desperate situation right now and every yard in the country is short of people. I really don't know what we are going to do.
Yesterday evening Sureness went on her travels again as she is going back to San Sebastian for a big race on Saturday. She has to go from Portsmouth to Le Havre as Calais is far too dangerous right now. We are all looking forward to seeing her run out there again and she is in tremendous form. I am flying over on Thursday to supervise her and obviously we are hoping for a big run. Apart from her we haven't got many to run as one or two of them are a couple of weeks off a run.
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