June 28th is a hugely important day; it is Archie's 3rd Birthday.

Archie and I thought he was going to be 4 today, but his mother disagreed and they are usually right, it also shows that neither Archie or I can count!

Anyway it is party time for Archie and his mates today with a bouncy castle and a clown (Jason Maguire) plus a little something for the parents to help pass the time as well.

Sadly Red Granite did not help to pay for today's extravaganza when he ran at Market Rasen yesterday.

Red Granite actually ran well to finish 4th; he might have been deemed lucky to have won last time at Southwell, although the handicapper obviously saw some thing that day that we didn't, as he placed another 7lb on his back; yesterday he was beaten 4 lengths.

I was asked round by Rupert Till to see and admire his work on Friday and Rupert has since given me a hard time for not mentioning it. He is very good, so well worth looking at his site and if you are in the mood of spending money you could do a great deal worse. I think that is enough of a plug for Rupert?

Tom Siddall was in for a couple of lots this morning; we worked Even Flo, The Good Guy (and schooled him over fences), Galaxia, Good Old Days while Double Mead cantered after spending a few days swimming round Jim Wilson's pool

Kim Smith Bingham, who has just moved in locally was round here this morning demonstrating his new horse and animal washing machine.

Our brief, for the purpose of this demonstration, was to produce two horses in from the field looking suitably dirty. One horse would then be washed by the age old and traditional method of washing a horse; i.e. with a sponge and loads of water and shampoo, while other horse, who was to be equally dirty, would in turn be hoovered and shampooed  by the Anivac machine.

The two horse models for this experiment were Ya I Know and Lucky Luk; Lucky Luk being the older of the two opted for the old fashioned way of being washed, while his younger and perhaps  trendier field friend Ya I Know opted for the new Anivac finish.

Mat Nicholls, my head lad, who has only been here about 7 weeks, showed considerable interest in the whole proceeding. The Anivac machine might not necessarily suit a racing yard as the horses are too frisky but it certainly would suit an eventing or showing operation; this machine has a future. Mat, although keen to observe was also keen to help with Ya I Know; I just wonder if it was because Lucy Katen was demonstrating the machine.

The whole sequence of events was photographed by John Lawrence and reported on by Adam Edwards for an article to appear in a forth coming addition of The Sunday Telegraph colour supplement. It should make an interesting article.

Time flies as you get older; shock horror, my daughter Pandora is 18 today; so a celebratory lunch with her and Harry in Lambourn's famous pub The Pheasant followed by a visit to see a horse at Oliver Sherwood's yard.

I am not really sure how to describe yesterdays one day game at The Oval. The result was that New Zealand won by one run, but in truth they should not have and the game produced a hugely controversial moment which will be talked about for ages. Not sporting and not cricket was the immediate reaction; lets face it, it was a one day game not a life threatening moment in the deciding test against those dreadfully sporting Aussies!

Anyway it was a good day although we should have won; forgetting the disappointment of loosing it was very good to catch up and see Barry and Sue Kitcherside and Roger and Gill Batty who are share holders in the Mad Batters Partnership who own Twenti Twenti.

Also in Barry's box yesterday was Martin Bicknell. Martin who was a leading light in Surreys team has just completed his autobiography which he has titled 'Bickers' . Martin, when not entertaining us with stories of his past, spent a fair amount of time selling and signing copies of his book; strangely enough I bought a copy and started reading it on the way home last night..The journey home flew.

My office was not a place to be today as Sandie my secretary will tell you. We have concrete busting jack hammers pounding the ground clearing away all the old corn bins from the other side of the office building. Conversations are brisk and heads were pounding with the noise!

Richard and Tania Yeomans were here second lot this morning to watch Richard Killoran ride their Emperor Fountain gelding canter up the gallops. Richard and Tania own The Fountain, a well know hostillery near Stroud where it seems that Mat and Jason Maguire spend most of their spare time!

Disappointed to see that Richard Killoran's car now has dents on all sides, luckily only the bonnet one was added here! For every bodies sake I am pleased to say that he obviously rides better than he drives?

A day away, what a pleasure to be at The Oval

Tom Siddall was in for a couple of lots this morning, so work does carry on as normal!

I am spending the day with Twenti Twenti's owners at the Oval, watching I hope a good performance from our boys who must beat New Zealand in today's one day match.

Barry Kitcherside is a very very good host, so it will be a brilliant day especially as I love my cricket. I was with Barry when England won the ashes on September 12 2005; yes, what a day and one I will never forget; in fact I have called it my greatest sporting moment. It was a day full of unbelievable tension and then huge excitement when we won the match and the Ashes thanks to a great and wild innings by the redoubtable KP...but as we all know that is cricket for you!

Jason Maguire was in for one lot this morning and rode Russian Lad, who, if the ground is suitable is due to make his racecourse debut in the bumper at Uttoxeter on Sunday.

I am not terribly sure that Kayceebee lived up to his name or expectations last night in the 7.10 at Windsor. My namesake looked to me like he might just need an operation in an area that might hurt, judging by the way he hung all over the place following the fillies, or was he just a little shy about racing?

The first Cotswold District recycling day today, a disaster! Can you imagine how easy it is to persuade all my staff that recycling is a must, especially when they are used to filling black bin liners with every conceivable piece of rubbish. Now we are only allowed one black box, one green and one grey wheelie bin, and emptied every other week.Help!

Galaxia was declared to run at Hereford yesterday in the hope that the forecasted 20mm of rain just might have appeared; it did appear, everywhere bar Hereford Racecourse so Galaxia did not run. Shame as he is in such good form and we are desperate to run him.

It was great to see that we headed the trainers ''hot list'' with a strike rate of 50% of runners to winners; just a shame we could not stretch that a bit further yesterday.

With no Hereford it instead gave us the opportunity to enjoy one of the great parties of 2008. Annabel King, the Stratford based trainer and her husband bloodstock agent Aiden Murphy hosted a 'party by the lake' to celebrate Annabel's 50th birthday. Dress code ''smart casual with a bit of red.''

Racing was well represented from both sides of the water.

Trainers Oliver and Simon Sherwood, Alan King, Phillip Hobbs, Robin Dickin, Ian Williams, Nigel Twiston Davies; Irish trainer Andrew McNamarra and top Irish hotelier Brian Murphy; then there were top National Hunt owners John Hales and Graham Whateley to name just a few of the many folk there. It was serious party and a very  long one.

There was a moment when things were heading out of control even before a drink was poured as the winds were so strong that the marquee nearly had to be evacuated as it looked like taking off.

The day was saved by a call for everybody local with a horsebox to bring them and place them round the marquee to act as a wind break; it worked thankfully!

Serious food followed by serious entertainment. 5 members of Riverdance banged away on the floor boards; they were brilliant. They were followed by Hazel O'Connor who sang for nearly an hour.

Just in case you have not been bored to tears with all the above. There is a horse running at Windsor tonight at 7.10pm named after me called Kayceebee; please note the breeding!

The Millennium Madness Partnership is headed by Harriet Smyly, who I have to say did ask for permission to call their horse Kayceebee.

I of course agreed but put down only one condition and that was if he ever looked like going hurdling he had to come to me. I shall be watching with great interest to see how he runs; who knows he could a triumph hurdle horses in a couple of years time. I am also very pleased to see that he is still a colt!