A beautiful summers morning; there is no better place to be early this morning than standing on top of the Cotswolds watching the horses canter up the gallops. If you have not been here you are missing out.

This stunning morning was bright enough to sort out any sore heads. From all accounts most of my staff spent a long night in The Royal Oak, our local village pub in Andoversford celebrating Mats birthday; Mat whose birthday is today is himself celebrating with a rare weekend off.

If you are planning on attending the Game Fair over the weekend please leave yourselves plenty of time to get in.

The traffic yesterday was a complete disgrace for a huge event like the Game Fair; there were reported 10 miles of queuing traffic although I cannot believe it was really that bad.

We certainly spent far too much time crawling round the lanes trying to get in and out, not good for my temper and thank god for air conditioning; not an extra nowadays?

I have not been to a Game Fair for several years; it is a huge country fair, apparently the biggest in the world, set in the most beautiful surroundings of Blenheim. But sadly now like so many of these huge events they have really become one big shopping centre; it did mean that Rupert Till was able to sell a few of his pieces: I hope so for his sake as 3 days of being there smiling to everybody makes my job sound easy.

I have to admit that I was hugely disappointed with The Good Guy yesterday at Uttoxeter. He is a very strange horse as he seems to have absolutely no respect for hurdles; he either jumps them or runs through them.

The Good Guy has been schooled over fences, post and rails and solid timber and has been on an intensive schooling course with Jon Trice- Rolf, all of which he did well, but when he sees a hurdle on a racecourse his brain seems to forget what to do

Yesterday, having jumped off in front, he more or less settled, but when taken on his run rather petered out and then his jumping went to pot; dropping back down the field he then ran on to finish third.

If he had jumped properly he would have finished a good 10-15 lengths closer and I would have been happier, beaten into second by the odds on winner. Fences now which he will respect.

Again I received some ''constructive'' emails from those who watched from the comfort of their armchairs for which I can only say thanks; these ones I will not publish.

I am pleased to say one of the email writers has apologised this morning having received a reply from me.

We did have one winner last night, The Thorndale Rounders Team beat a strong reprehensive from The Tom Georges Slad Racing Rounders Team.

I am sure Head Lad Mat said this morning that we had beaten our near neighbours, but by all accounts they had a good fun night. The refreshments were two cases of cold beer kindly donated by Chris Guy, who dropped them off when he last called in to see his horses.

It is great when two yards join up to take each other on in some sporting capacity. All stable staff work hard and take huge risks while looking after other peoples horses, something at times we all take for granted.

Health and Safety in racing can easily become a huge bone of contention in some areas, but one area where they are so right, is making sure that at least one person in every racing yard has a qualification in First Aid.

There was a dreadful accident in Lamboun earlier in the week and David McCinn's life was saved by the operations manager of Mandown estates who had one.

What do David Cameron and Jim St Clair Ford have in common? Both had important personal and old friends stolen and as a result neither could sit down.

The only difference was that David Cameron was able to get a lift back home in a chauffeured limo while Jim, who had his wheel chair stolen at Cheltenham, was not quiet so lucky; the chances of course is that neither will be found unless they appear on ebay?

Tesco's or Cheltenham Racecourse, which is the more unlikely place to have an important possession stolen?

Annie Jones called in this morning. Annie and her husband Richie used to have horses with me several years ago (the last one was aptly named Fond Farewell!), sadly Richie died last year from cancer. 

Annie, who is over with the USA Event team, (they are based at Barbury Castle), is heading off to China on Sunday; sadly for Annie her horse, who should have been representing the USA, has gone lame and as a result has stayed at home. Annie is off to Ascot tomorrow to represent George Strawbridge in the King George; George is an old family friend.

A representative from The Northern Racing College was down this morning to asses Mary on how she is getting on in the yard; she has been here nearly a year now and is good at her job. It is very important that the two racing colleges keep an eye on how their students process.

Its official, summer has arrived!

A beautiful morning, first thing the valley below was shrouded in mist and then the sun took hold. A great day to be training horses and no doubt riding them; Tom Siddall and Felix De Giles were here for a couple of lots and both were full of gossip, to which of course my lips are sealed.

Yesterday Clare and I went over to the far side of Worcester to see a French bred horse who was in training with Francois Doumen last year. The big strong chestnut gelding will be appearing here in about 10 days time, that is after being shod, blood tested and ridden; I just hope he is as good as his pedigree.

Graham Potts, our hard working vet was in to look at a couple of horses including Constantius.

Constantius, you might remember, looked like winning the Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown in March only to fall at the second last. Constantius, who was ably ridden by Guy Disney, suffered multiple fractures in his hind joint as a result of his fall and in an operation that followed 52 tiny bits of bone were removed from his hind pastern joint.

His career looked to be over, and now the good news is that Graham is so impressed with the result of the surgery (not done by him) that Constantius can return to full training on August 1st;  brilliant news for his ever patient Owner and breeder Don Churston.

It will be very gently does it for a couple of months and I am afraid a bit of fingers crossed that every thing holds together when we step up his work load and especially when we start schooling.

I am sure most of you know my feelings about recycling and it has not been an easy transition here at Thorndale Farm; trying to get the house where my staff live to understand has not been an easy task.

Our once fortnightly rubbish collection date is today, but as usual nothing goes; so after several friendly telephone calls to Cotswold District Council they have finally admitted to me that they have made a mistake and our collection day should have been yesterday i.e. on Tuesdays.. great. Apparently is all to with the length of Withington Road as to which day your rubbish is collected and where you are on it, we are in the middle, hence the cock up.

We now have about 5 weeks rubbish sitting at the end of Thorndale Drive. I have put Mat in charge of sorting it all out which as you can imagine he is very chuffed about!

Richard Killoran was here for four lots this morning; he rode Braybrooke Lady, Blazaing Tommy, Lady Samantha and Koi Roy. Koi Roy's owner Tania Yeomans and Lauren were here third lot to watch him canter up the all weather a couple of times upsides Lucky Luk; KR is progressing well for a 4 year old.

Young horses are like children, they need keeping on top of, without over doing it; they need to remain boisterous, without going over the top. They too have growth spurts and that is the time to back off them and let nature take its course.

I love training youngsters although at times it can be hugely frustrating, especially for those who own them as you can be so nearly there and something sets the whole process backwards. Looking after young horses is all about time and patience; my old boss Fred Rimell had a saying for it, mind you it was so rude I could not possibly print it!

John Cootes, from my birth county of Essex, sent me the following after reading my usual round of spelling mistakes; the ones that spell check miss of course?
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
 

Sophie Steel, many thanks for the letter; Hong Kong sounds fun and hard work, especially if you log on every hour to find out what is happening here! Lord Seamus sends his love.... from his field.

We are hoping that summer will arrive today, certainly for most of the week, at least that is what the weather gurus are predicting; the warmest week of the year so far. Hard to believe it as first thing this morning coats and hats were required for riding out, it felt more like October not July

Monday is always known as hold on and hope day, especially as at this time of year the horses are fresh as paint. It helps that we have started cantering most of the horses, it not only quietens them down but also I am sure it is far safer; I am not a great believer in road work.

In my youth, we would walked and trotted every horse round the roads for about 2 hours a day, this went on for about the first couple of months the horses returned from grass, supposedly to harden up their legs.

Not only was it something all staff hated doing, it was also dull, boring and frankly blood dangerous; fresh horses on slippery tarmac are not an ideal ingredient and certainly not an enjoyable way to ride a horse.

It is made far worse nowadays as sadly most car drivers are not used to seeing horses on the roads and the thought of slowing down is something that does not register until too late.

There is no proof that road work hardens legs up, it is far more likely to jar them up; so on that note we start cantering after about 10 days of walking and trotting round the farm; that way I believe, we keep the horses safer and to a certain extent the staff happier; perhaps that is why Liam Higgins is here and not on holiday?

Talking of cars, I am sure that the great many petrol heads who watched Top Gear last night were fascinated by the new form of hunting. I am sure the outcome did not really end when the hounds devoured Jeremy Clarkson, although I am sure a few antis of either hunting or Top Gear would have been delighted if it was the case.

The program again showed that Bloodstock agent and stud owner David Redvers is always up to something different; it makes a change from invading Parliament. Last night David led the pack chasing the uneatable.

Thanks for all the emails about Good Old Days draining or as it should have read, drawing, in yesterdays blog; at least it shows that some of you actually read it!