On Tuesday Ian Piper came to take pictures of the horses and update the website so hopefully you will be getting more updated information about the yard and horses.

We are working at the Back of The Hill. Sureness, Baltic Storm and Quebec are working nicely together. Sureness goes back to San Sebastion for a race on the 10th September. She was second there last month and there is an ideal race for her over a longer distance which will suit her. Baltic Storm and Quebec will have entries in about 2 weeks time.

We have had quite a busy week with people coming to see the new horses we have got for the upcoming season. I am hoping we can sell one or two quite soon as the Sales Companies are knocking on my door.

We had a big lunch on Sunday and I cooked for 14 people. It was good fun but a very late one. Lucinda Green came to see the horses on the gallops on Monday and she said that she was very impressed.

We has a burst pipe on Tuesday and the water was flowing down the road and causing mayhem. Luckily Thames Water did their bit and got it mended.

My kids got back from the Canary Islands on Monday so I took them to the Indian Restaurant in Lambourn to see all their pictures and celebrate the fact that Matilda did very well in her GCSE's.

We have Gowanauthat in at Stratford on Saturday and I thought the race would be too competitive for him but it is starting to cut up which means that he may run. He is going for a 5th timer and life is getting harder for him as the Handicapper has put him up 27 lbs.

I took my children Matilda and William up to Edinburgh for our annual trip. We stayed with both my sisters and the weekend with my brother. The Edinburgh Festival is fascinating as there are so many street performers and different shows to go to and it keeps my kids enthralled. On the second day we were there we ran Victor Leudorum at Stratford and he won by 23 lenghts which did not do his Handicap mark a lot of good as he went up 13lb for winning. We turned him out again quickly a week later again at Stratford in a £10,000 chase and he won again. Although he runs in Vanessa Eke's name he is owned by me and he is for sale.

We had Terry Simmons down on Friday to watch his horses out third lot and then we had lunch in the Malt. John and Veronica Thorneloe came round to look at the horses in the afternoon. We then had Anthony and Wendy Smith who came to see their horses and stayed the night at the Malt. We had a very good dinner together and then they watched  their horses on the gallops the next morning.

We ran Gowanauthat at Newton Abbot on Saturday. He carried top weight against 8 rivals, he made all the running, jumped like a cat and won his fourth race in a row this season. Considering we were going to sell him at the end of last season he has been a star.

We have had a very good start to this season and our last 3 runners have all won. Most of the horses are cantering now and we have quite a few for sale.

Its a sad day today as the Olympics have finished and I was in awe of them. To finish 2nd in the table and beat China is an enormous accomplishment. It was wonderful to see Nick Skelton at the age of 58 win a gold medal and it was an amazing achievement. Anyway hats off to all GB Team members and I look forward to Tokyo.

The nights and mornings are drawing in a bit now and we are starting to do a bit more with some of the horses.On Saturday Tommy Dowling got on a horse for the first time since his accident at the end of April.He has made an amazing recovery considering the amount of bones that he broke. He was at first told that he would not ride for a year and he's made it back onto a horse in the space of 4 months. He is hoping to race ride in mid September so we all wish him well.

Have had a fairly busy week. We went to Doncaster Sales last Wednesday and managed to sell two horses and buy a nice horse called Like The Sound for Paul Mott. He is a good looking horse with form in France and should jump a fence.

I stayed in a very ordinary hotel at Birmingham called Ibis We flew very early to Biarritz. Myself and my two assistants Will Stuart and Evelyn Faber. We arrived at San Sebastian and went to look at the racecourse as we had Sureness running in the big race there on the Monday. We did a lot of research into the town and supervised Sureness having her exercise on the track.

Race day was on Monday and I was suffering from food poisoning haven eaten a dodgy oyster. Luckily Sureness was in great form and managed to finish 2nd under a good ride from Roberto Montenegro. She beat this years Guineas winner and another who finished 2nd in the Oaks.

I was very proud of her and she arrived back yesterday. I have found another race for her in San Sebastian on September 10th and it will suit her more as it's 3 furlongs further. My liver is now recovering.

I Have been trying Horseboxes for most of last week and have decided on buying a brand new Equitrek. It seems to be the best value for money and we got a good deal. It hopefully arrives in about 3 weeks time.

We have managed to get nearly all the horses in from the field now and most of them are doing road work.We have some nice young horses all with either Point to Point or Bumper form and they look a nice bunch. I have to get my sales cap on and find some owners for them.

We managed to get 3 new members of staff last week and considering the shortage of staff in Racing I think we've done fairly well.

We ran Victor Leudorum last Tuesday at Worcester and he ran a really nice race finishing 2nd at 33/1. On the back of this we should be able to place him to win a race.

We went to Goodwood on Wednesday to have lunch with William & Carey Harrison Allan. The weather was better than most days and we saw some very good racing. It is the only day of the year I wear my man from Del Monte suit so it was lucky the sun was out!

We are very lucky that we have a very good Indian Restaurant in Lambourn and I took Susanna and the kids there on Saturday night which they always enjoy.

I went to Jane Alison's for lunch on Sunday and was very impressed with her set up. She has some nice horses in and she does a good job. We ran Le Legro at Market Rasen and he didn't jump very well and finished 5th. I'm afraid his next outing may be the Sales.

We have a busy time this week with the Sales at Doncaster on Wednesday and then we are off to Sans Sebastian on Thursday as Sureness runs in a flat race there. We have a jockey called Roberto Montenegro riding her and they say he is very good and I have managed to see him ride in a couple of races. She seems in very good form, Sureness and it would be nice to bring home a few euros.

We will keep you updated.

After all the rain we've had all summer we've had a really nice 3 days of sun. We have started to get the horses in from the field as the grass has gone and the flies are getting bad. They all look pretty pleased to be back in.

I had a very nice weekend at Henley Regatta. It's always nice to see a different sport at top level. We went to Newmarket for the Sales and managed to buy a nice 4 year old called American Gigolo. He has been placed in a bumper and is a nice scopey sort.

My son William had his Speech Day at Pinewood and it was his last day there as he will go to St Edwards in Oxford after the summer holidays.The next day I flew to Nice to stay with Ros Kempner in St Tropez. It is fairly expensive in St Tropez but lunch on Tuesday was one of the most expensive lunches I've had for a while. Between the starter and the main course I managed to buy a horse at Ascot Sales through Bobby O'Ryan called Doolin. I didn't see him until I got back but I was pleasantly surprised and he looks a nice sort. I stayed in Nice on the 15th which was the day after the awful attack in Boulevard des Anglais. It was pretty grim stuff.

We have been a bit quiet on the runners front but we have got two in next Tuesday. We have also got a plan which is to run Sureness in a mares race at San Sebastian which will be an interesting trip. If she runs well on August 8th there is a big race for her a week later at the same venue.

We had a NTF meeting at Oaksey House in Lambourn for the first time at my suggestion and it was the largest turnout of trainers we have ever had so hopefully we will keep it at that venue. Its a fairly quiet week but we are getting busy as the horses are coming in.

On Friday I had to go to Hungerford to have a filling from my dentist. I must say I do rather object to paying a great deal of money and then feeling as if someone has belted me in the mouth! We had a nice supper in the Malt Shovel with Andy Stone and Emily and my two children who came to stay.

On Saturday after we worked some horses Sam kindly drove me to Cirencester where Nell Buckler drove me to Ditcheat. We had lunch with our host Paul Nicholls and then we were driven to Glastonbury which was nearly next door to Ditcheat. It has always been on my bucket list Glastonbury and I have never seen anything like it in my whole life. It is absolutely enormous and there is mud everywhere and the variety of people was extraordinary. There where 30,000 people working there plus 1600 medics. We saw Madness in the afternoon and they were superb and then in the evening we met up with Paul and we saw Adele and she was absolutely brilliant. We ended up in the VIP area in a place called the Rabbit Hole which was so exclusive that both Noel Gallagher and Kate Moss were turned away. We got to bed at about 4.00am. On Sunday morning we had a very good breakfast with Paul and then we were shown around the gallops and his place. I got back to Neardown in the afternoon where I tried to watch the racing but fell asleep.

On Monday Sam, Chrissy and myself drove to Calcot Park for our annual Charity Golf Day. We had 22 jockeys playing in 15 teams and the weather for once behaved itself. I played with John Francome, Nick Sutton and Chris Graham. Considering I haven't played since our Golf Day last year and have also had a plate put in my shoulder I played out of my skin! I managed to get my first ever Birdie and also parred two or three holes. I normally end up getting the wooden spoon but we actually managed to finish 3rd. The winners were Harry Bannister, Robbie Dunne, Max Lindley and David Probert. It was a good fun day and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. When I got home I watched the football and I've never seen anything quite like it. How those guys can get paid so much money and be beaten by a team whose entire country is the size of Leicester I just do not know. It is all right the Manager resigning but\I think half the team should follow suit.

We have got 3 runners tomorrow at Worcester and old Fine Parchment is having his last run for us as he is been retired. He has been a great servant to us and won a lot of races including the Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury. We will all miss him as he is a great character and a lovely old horse and we all hope he does well in his next job.

We had a new form of accommodation put in our yard last Thursday. It is a 2 bedroom house made out of a container. It is an ingenious idea and may solve the problem finding accommodation for Stable Staff.

We have a new owner called Vanessa Eke who came on the gallops and had breakfast with us. She seemed to enjoy herself and it is nice to get her on board.

We had a very good singles lunch on the Sunday and it was interesting swapping notes!

My sister Caroline and my Brother in Law Mark came to stay the evening of Royal Ascot. I did four days at Royal Ascot and although it was a bit damp there was some superb racing. I especially enjoyed seeing Dougie Costello ride his first Gp. 1 winner. We had some very good lunches throughout the week.

I ran a lovely bumper horse at Market Rasen last Friday called Pickamix and he absolutely bolted up. I think he has a big future.. I went to Goodwood to see Sureness run but unfortunately the ground went against her and she finished 5th.

I took my daughter Tildie to Royal Ascot on Saturday and she looked absolutely gorgeous We had a fun day and she saw lots of her friends. We went to Vi Aitken's 90th Birthday drinks party which was great fun.

It has rained most of this month and it really is miserable. I went to a Memorial Drinks Party for Bryan Beacham on Monday. He was an owner of mine for over 20 years and we never had a crossed word in all that time. It is slightly ironic that I have trained Bryan four winners in the last month. He was a lovely man and we will all miss him.

We were meant to run Gowanauthat on Tuesday but when we went to put him on the horsebox he was lame on his off fore. As it turned out it is only a bruised foot.

I am looking forward to Saturday as I am going to Glastonbury for the first time. I have got my wellies ready and I don't think I need to wear a tie! I am going with Paul Nicholls and I hope he has our Owners and Trainers badges.

On Monday we have our Charity Golf Day and I hope the weather stays dry for it. I am still having physio on my shoulder but hopefully will be able to start riding out soon.