Now back home from a week of bucket and spading; good fun especially for young Archie, who had a ball with his cousins.

My only problem, which more than slightly annoyed me, was to have to fit new break pads etc to my car (while in the middle of nowhere) after only being serviced locally 2 weeks ago!

Mat has been in charge all week and knowing that he was here helps make the brain relax; it makes such a big difference knowing that everything is well looked after while you are away.

Mat did not have the best of weeks with our runners; Galaxia, who was a warm favourite at Uttoxeter on Wednesday was so badly hampered when a horse fell in front of him 5 from home that it put him right out of the race; really Tom Siddall would have been better to have pulled him up as he had no chance of getting back into the race.

Hugely annoying and very disappointing, especially as the race report in the Racing Post the following day virtually missed it and hinted that he had run badly; providing there is no mental damage Galaxia will soon be back in the winners enclosure, he was going very well at the time.

At Southwell on Friday Good Old Days did not appreciate new tactics, front running is not ideal for him as he pulled himself into the ground; back to the draining board with him.

Finally our last runner was yesterday at Market Rasen; Double Mead was a very warm favourite to go one better than last time when second al Uttoxeter.

The ground had changed at Market Rasen after a great deal of rain and Double Mead, who is a true top of the ground horse, was always going to struggle on the soft ground. We decided to run after a great deal of deliberations, as it was a good prize and there were no suitable races for her for a while.

Double Mead ran her heart out to finish second although her cause was not helped by the ground; again her day will come again.

All the horses look well and a couple more have come in over the last week, more have started cantering and with only one likely runner this week in The Good Guy it looks to be quiet for a few days.

Archie Bailey will be joining up with his cousins and grand parents today for a bit of bucket and spading; of course he is taking his parents along with him otherwise he would not get there, so there will be no blogging after today for a week.

Mat will be in charge while I am away, helped of course by Harry Bailey. Between the two of them I know the yard will run smoothly and we hope to have a couple of runners (winners!) during the week, their participation will be Mats decision as I am likely to be out of mobile reception for the week.

Mats first test will come tomorrow when he is showing Francois Doumen round the yard at 10.30. Francois, who is staying with Mark and Rosie Vestey will I am sure be persuaded by Mat to send a couple of his finest here for the winter.

The horses will be rocking in their boxes over the weekend as our next door neighbour is hosting the annual tree festival. Hardly Glastonbury but with all the rain and being on grass it just might resemble it. All my staff will be there tonight holding a branch or two for protection as apparently umbrellas are very passé.

Before we left we worked Double Mead, Galaxia, Lord Of The Bridge, Good Old Days and The Good Guy; all the rest either went for a walk round the farm or cantered.

Jason Maguire visited Gloucester hospital yesterday and is now heading off home to Ireland for a couple of weeks to help his recovery from last weekends fall at Market Rasen. Jason very much hopes to be back in the saddle in about 6 weeks; he must be a tough wiry so and so?

Wednesday night we received a telephone call that we all dread; the loss of a friend.

Lynn Wilson, who had just spent three days fishing at Knockando on the Spey with his great friend and trainer Nicky Henderson, was killed in a car crash while driving to the airport to catch a plane back to his home in Northamptonshire.

Lynn was one of those very very rare people who, even though incredibly successful in business, had time for everybody, whoever they might be.

Lynn was incredibly kind and hugely generous; a great supporter of all sports, especially cricket; he was chairman of Northamptonshire CC for many years.

For the last few years a racing team led by Oliver Sherwood has played his team 'The Arcadians' in a charity cricket match at his own ground at Holcot to raise money for the Injured Jockeys fund; it was always a tremendously fun day and Lynn was always hugely generous to the charity.

He loved his racing and was rewarded with winners at The Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot, but really underneath it all, Lynn was a true family man who loved life and all involved in it with him

All who knew him will miss him hugely and all our thoughts go out to his wife Judy and his sons Nick and Giles.

Paul and Elizabeth Kellar called in this morning to see their horse Lucky Luk. Yes it rained while they were here but luckily we were able to drive round the farm in Paul's new car; mine was elsewhere, but at least we stayed dry while admiring Lucky Luk.

This afternoon Neil and Amanda Jennings called in toe see their horse Braybrooke Lady. Neil and Amanda were travelling down to the west country to attend a family wedding. Hopefully they were pleased with how she looked, they have a lovely horse.

Dougie Costello called in to ride a couple of lots out this morning. Dougie, who is one of my favourite jockeys was down in the area for Worcester last night, although sadly for him his mount did not run because of the torrential rain. Worcester made the decision not to run the chase races; so the meeting became an all hurdle card with about 5 spectators!

Dougie, who only has a few rides for me a year, is based up North; he is hugely talented and highly respected by the owners and trainers that he rides for. He would have been a worthy candidate for Nicky Richards job when Tony Dobbin retired, although he was not sighted. Dougie who rides for Jimmy Quinn and G Swinbank certainly deserves a really top class job.

Also in this morning was Tom Garner, Ollie's younger brother. Tom who was based with Donald McCain last winter is about to start work with Alan King next week as his young amateur; perhaps the two brothers will meet in a race one of these days.

Jason Maguire has left Lincoln Hospital and is this morning heading for an appointment with a specialist in Gloucester to see what their prognosis is; so he seems like all jockeys to be remarkably resilient.

Our fire drill was tested last night when Higgs, who had spent the day topping the grass paddocks returned to the yard when suddenly the or his tractor caught fire! Earlier in the day he had broken the hydraulic pump holder as well..Welcome back Higgs I just hope that you are right when you mentioned that your sister might have won the lotto!

What a morning ..it is pi..ing with rain!

Tom Siddall was in for a couple of wet lots; he rode work on Double Mead who worked with Galaxia (both are due to run next week).

Tom then schooled The Good Guy (who is meant to run at Stratford on Sunday but he needs fast ground!), Good Old Days and Lord Of The Bridge over fences; it was lovely ground, almost as good as Uttoxeter last night.

We were disappointed with Even Flo last night. She finished 6th, beaten 6 lengths, which on the face of it was not too bad considering she was racing off a career high rating of 95 which was 8lbs higher than when she was beaten last time.

Even Flo started her chasing career last summer off a rating of 75; one win and a couple of placed runs later she is now rated 20lbs higher, which understandably makes life difficult. Again it shows that on average the handicapper has an opinion that you should only win one race in ever sixteen starts.

I am quite sure the handicapper will understand and drop her the 6lbs for the 6 lengths she was beaten last night when reassess her next week!

Jason Maguire is still in Lincoln Hospital, one lung has drained although the other is taking a little longer to clear. His spirits are high and the rest of his injuries will heal on their own, so luckily there seems to be no need of an operation. Jason hopes, as does Loren, that he will be moved down south later this week.

Richard Killoran was in for three lots this morning, he rode Double Mead, Koi Roy and Blazing Tommy. The sun shone which made us all feel that yesterdays rain was a one off, but then tomorrows weather forecast looks dreadful.

Bizarre weather, as we English like to say; last year on the 20th July we nearly drowned or rather Gloucestershire did, I just hope we do not have a repeat performance over the next few weeks.

Walking courses is one of my habits, especially during the summer months when ground can be described so completely wrong by some COC's.

Anyway Even Flo is due to run at Uttoxeter tonight at 6.50pm and she wants good summer jumping ground, and guess what it is now good to soft, so are we talking of summer good to soft or winter good to soft?.. let me tell you there is quite a difference. Keith Ottersen is good at his job so I am sure it is the former, but my stick is travelling with me.

While I was away last week The £10 million Sovereign Series was launched.

It is not something that is going to make any difference to my life, although as an outsider looking in, this series seems to me to a total waste of time; a great deal money being thrown at something that frankly will not make a jot bit of difference. The most likely beneficiaries are going, to be the Magnier's and Tabors thanks to some brilliantly trained horses by Aiden O'Brien and who knows possibly a couple of high profile Sheik will benefit too. All this money could have been far better placed?

We are back from 4 days in Ireland on what  has now become a most enjoyable and much looked forward to annual trip. We stayed as we always do in a hamlet called Ballyhooly, situated on the Blackwater, 45 km's north of Cork and 12 km's west of Fermoy. It is an ideal base for a few days of looking at horses and a little salmon fishing; work and play?

The play was far more productive for Clare and Harry than my horse hunting. Harry caught his first ever salmon, a 4lb grilse, while Clare added to her already large tally with one more, a 7lb grilse; I on the other hand failed dismally. Harry's first fish has already been devoured and Clare's will be soon nodoubt.

Jason Maguire, poor chap, was injured at Market Rasen yesterday which meant that he was unable to ride my runner Russian Lad; he did not miss much as Russian Lad floundered in the rain softened ground.

Jason's mount The Rocking Dock, trained by D McCain, fell earlier when hot favourite in the beginners chase. Jason was immediately stretchered off to Lincoln Hospital where he spent the night in intensive care; he was diagnosed with a broken sternum, breast bone, ribs and two punctured lungs; the lungs have been drained while the rest will heal in time.

I spoke to Jason this morning, he says he is ok, although uncomfortable and he hopes to move to a more local hospital in a couple of days which will make his fiancé Loren far happier; Lincoln is not exactly next door to Stroud. Jason is not allowed to laugh with his broken ribs, which for those who know him will understand that should not be too difficult.

Mat has been busy bringing in horses from the field while I have been away, so this morning I was greeted by several overweight horses looking rather pleased to in the dry in their stables as it is pouring with rain outside; their holidays are now over for another year.

Last week one of racing most understated owners Geoffrey Cleaver passed away. Geoffrey, who was a huge racing fan was a share holder, along with John Perriss and Scott Marshall, in a horse called Act Of Parliament. Geoffrey had shares in several horses, including some with Captain Forster, which leads me on to a very amusing incident which so nearly back fired on me.

When Act Of Parliament won his first race at Warwick, Geoffrey refused to come into the winners enclosure to celebrate just in case he bumped into the great Captain. He was not embarrassed that he had a horse with me (I hope) but more of a case that he had not told The Captain. The Captain was very unforgiving about owners moving from him, especially to his upstart ex assistant.

After a long lunch with Craig Pearman, part owner of Kings Fountain, it was decided it would be fun to wind up Geoffrey about his predicament. I rang Geoffrey, knowing that he was still on the motorway and left a message on his ansaphone, pretending to be Captain Forster. ''Mr Cleaver I have been informed that you now have a horse with Kim Bailey, I think it is an absolute disgrace and incredibly disloyal'' I went on at some length giving a few other reasons of disgust before finally putting the telephone down.

When he returned home Geoffrey picked up the message; he was so incensed, especially as in his opinion the Captain had no right to say what he did that he immediately rang some of his mates, including Craig, to tell them all about the message. ''I shall write a letter and tell him exactly what I think about his telephone message". The following day the letter was sent post haste to the Captain.

There were a few people in the know as to what had happened and when a copy of this letter was circulated by Geoffrey who was very pleased with what he had written; he was especially keen that his mates should see what he had said and how he put the matter right; as he said, the Captain was only paid to do a job... etc.

I was faxed a copy by Craig and having read it I soon realised that it was not one that the great man would like to receive, especially as he had no idea as to why the letter was written.

Panicking I rang Marigold Cope, Captain Forster's long suffering secretary and begged her to make sure that when the letter arrived she opened it and ripped it up so that The Captain would never see it. Marigold being a loyal secretary understandably refused. I was now in a right pickle but luckily after a great deal of persuasion, flowers etc Marigold kindly withheld the offending letter from the captain when it finally arrived; I am forever in her debt.

Geoffrey did find out as to what had happened and swore that one day he would get his own back; sadly now he will never have the chance, although knowing his wonderful sense of humour he might just still find a way. Geoffrey worked for Sky and played a large part in sorting out the football rights; hugely popular, a quiet man who made people cry with laughter when in his company; his after dinner speeches were always something very special. All who knew him will miss him hugely and our thoughts go out to his wife Diana.

On a slightly different note my daughter Pandora passed her driving test this afternoon, which will mean that her brother Harry will have to give her back her car!

Clare and I are away for a few days in Ireland, so as a result there will be no more of my daily blog to read this week; what a relief I hear you say?

Jason Maguire (who pointed out that he was not a clown) and Richard Killoran were in for a couple of lots. Jason rode work on The Good Guy and Even Flo while Richard rode Good Old Days and Russian Lad.

Yesterday was extraordinary in many ways. We were driving to London to attend The Conservative Summer Party as guests of Sarde's owner Bill Ives while listening to Andy Murray's demise on Radio five live. As we went into the party at 7.45pm I definitely thought that Andy was a stroppy Scottish git and yet again he had let us down, especially as without dear old Tim Henman Andy was the countries only hope of somebody at least born in the British Isles doing something sportingly useful.

We left the party early this morning after listening to fund raising speeches and stunning performances from Britain's got Talent finalists Faryl Smith and Signiture plus The Rat Pack and Orchestra and the team from Grease to hear that Andy Murray had won!

I could not believe my ears; what a hero Andy Murray is and we are all so proud of him and especially  that he is British; who knows he might just win. Oh those dreams are there, Andy I take back all I thought of you at 7.47pm last night, you are a hero.. What a comeback, what a game. Good luck for the rest of the tournament... it is Murray mania time..

I am waiting for the flack!

What an exhausting week end. I don't believe bouncy castles were around in my youth and hopefully after this weekend I hope I never have to set foot on that spongy air filled surface again, well not at least for another year!

The young friends of Archie enjoyed themselves while their parents drank me out of house and home. Sadly the clown was so scary that we had to send him home although it was hard to imagine who he was; who ever it was, was certainly not a smiley clown?

The summer holidays for some of the horses end this week. The boxes have been steam cleaned and the wood treated, all ready for the horses return and another winters work.

I believe that at long last we have managed to catch Liam Higgins out. Higgs who has worked for me for about 25 years, normally goes off on holiday as soon as the horses return from their breaks; he hates riding them when they are fresh and stupid. This year he is here, ready and very much looking forward to getting on with the job in hand.

As Clare and I are heading off to Ireland for a few days later in the week  Emma Walker has been persuaded to come in while we are away to ride Clare's horse Nobby out.

Emma, who is well known in the dressage world will certainly add a bit of glamour to the yard while we are away. Emma's arrival this week will keep certain members of my male staff happy, providing of course that neither Ferghal O'Brien or TTFFN decide to follow her over.

The new slogan ''Kim Bailey is Back'' in last week Racing Post prompted several comments; the feed back was all very good and encouraging, but there is always some one who would like to disagree. A predictable text message came through from the one person who enjoys hiding behind the anonymity of a mobile phone. He or she has been sending defamatory texts to me on a regular basis for well over a year, mostly recommending that I should pack up; this time the text said ''Wonder if Paul Nicholls and Alan King are quaking in their boots now that you are back?'' I wonder who he or she is, text 07847426588 to find out.