Mike and Jeanette Campbell and Bruce and Angela Robbins called in to see their new horse Malindi Bay who we purchased last night at The Cheltenham sale. Malindi Bay who is already a bumper winner at Folkestone for Oliver Sherwood will now go hurdling.

Mike and Bruce currently have the promising Doctor Disny in the yard and the addition of Malindi Bay is an exciting venture.

Sadly they were unable to meet the great man himself himself as Oliver Sherwood is currently in South Africa with Martin St Quinton, Phillip Hobbs and Compton Hellyer on safari.

Hereford has been abandoned for frost today as has Ludlow tomorrow  and inspections for Kempton tomorrow.

Andy Murray was predictably thrashed by the worlds number one Roger Federer. It was not a bad game and with all the expectations on Andy Murrays head he did his best, although I am not sure the press will agree.

Sad news for Tania Yeomans who has had her two horses Thenameescapesme and Koi Roy home for mid season break. Poor Koi Roy was found out in the field early in the morning with a broken leg; I feel very sorry for Tania as she adores her horses.

Jason Maguire has asked me to spread the word that you should all go out and buy tomorrows Racing Post; apparently there is a article in it about some rising star of weighing room. Cant wait.

A busy morning which started with a very early call (before 6am) from Mat my head lad saying that he could not start the tractor as the key had broken in the ignition; apparently it snapped off in his hand when he went to start it.

Not a great start as with a very heavy frost last night of -6 the gallop needed turning before owners and those who had bought a morning on the gallops arrived.

Keith and Liz Ellis (owner of Good Old Days and Ben Ami) brought along Jamie and Angie Zuppinger, Mathew Cave and Sarah Parker who had bought a 'morning on the gallops followed by Breakfast' at a charity auction.

John and Susanna Dyson and Robert and Pep Glen also joined them as they too had bought a 'morning on the gallops' at another charity auction; they were all joined by David Hibbert who called in to watch his horse Oshkosh work second lot.

Chaos, certainly not, only because Clare was cooking breakfast, not me, which was a huge relief for those who had spent their money.

Guy Disney and Tom Siddall were in for a couple of lots and helped work Eastern Supreme, Sarde, Islamouth, Smokey George, Cinderella Rose, Bentota, Supreme Plan, Golden Button, Regal Approach, Valento, Midnight Haze, Admiral Dundas and all the rest cantered.

This was followed by our first morning for the members of The Heroes Partnership; it was a chance for them to call in and meet their two horses and meet Caroline Smail our organiser.

Cheltenham raced on testing ground after a couple of inspections, and great racing it was too. Sadly the race card showed a picture of  a young David Nicholson or Nick Cheyne discussing his thoughts under the banner Of Kim Bailey.. A bit of a worry as they were my answers!

A good afternoon business wise as I sold at least another 3 shares in the Heroes Partnership but I was banned from talking to my owners in the Cheltenham Members club. All I wanted to do was discuss with John and Penny Perriss and Mary Anne St Clair Ford the plans for their horses but rightly trainers are a no no in that hallowed area

The Cheltenham sale produced another new horse for us, lot 23 a bumper winning mare by Alflora.. more on her later.

Ffos Las was far better than I expected and to be quite honest going I was not really thinking of give it the thumbs up.

It is a fair way down to west Wales and the journey was not brilliant (motorway closed); luckily Jason had told me last week that once off the motorway I was not to follow the racecourse signs or the racecourse instructions but to stick with what they told you on Satnav.

It is 8 miles from the motorway following satnav and just over 20 if you follow the racecourse signs; the difference of 15 minutes to an hour!

Arriving you could not possibly believe you were entering racecourse; I suppose you would call it bleak and it certainly would be if there was a cold wind and raining.

The facilities were great, Real Treasures owners said the restaurant was good, the atmosphere was buoyant, and the locals were helpful and smiley; yes I was surprised, especially as at the other Welsh course just up the road it is completely the opposite.

It was good experience and Ffos Las as a racecourse has left a great deal of room for improvement in every sense of the word, by that I mean room to move and expand without cluttering the place.

Yes I was impressed and will go back but you must take a horse that needs better ground as the course is like racing on the controversial new part of Wetherby the whole way round; it is after all new ground and it will take a while to bed in.

Do though be warned, mobile reception, unless you have Orange, is dreadful, which is why I never found Chris Guy before Buffalo Bob's race.

Buffalo Bob needs far softer ground as it felt very good on him, Real Treasure ran a fabulous race again to finish 2nd and came up against another Henderson hot pot (how does he do it!). Lion On The Prowl was also 2nd and no disgrace as the winner bolted up and Pugilst on the all-weather finished 5th beaten a total of 2 1/2 lengths.

I was not a happy chap last night driving home; another couple of 2nds, the horses all ran well and I am still on that dreaded cold list much to TFFFNs delight!

Michael and Angela Storey called in this morning to see Witty Banter and Basoda.

Colin Turner the top racecourse photographer has kindly given me a large photo collage of Mr Frisk, Master Oats and Alderbrook's great wins. It is greatly appreciated Colin, many thanks.

I am always getting grief about my spelling so John Cootes in his wisdon has emailed the following.

Aoccdrnig to 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. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. If you can raed tihs, psot it to yuor wlal. Olny 55% of plepoe can.

An interesting morning listening to Murray battle it out with Cilic; this hugely important game for Murray should make good background listening/watching while doing the monthly bills.

Both runners yesterday suffered in the ground at Huntingdon; Blazing Sun now qualifies for a handicap mark while Ruby Crown ran a better race but found the extra 5 furlongs too far in that awful ground; it was though a better run from her.

After what we saw yesterday Clerk of the course Andrew Morris will have to show how good he is at his job to make Huntingdon ground level and safe for when it dries up in the Spring

A easy day for the horses and a day round the farm.

Tom Siddall called in late morning to school Golden Button over hurdles and Oshkosh over fences; we also schooled Lady Samantha over hurdles and Bentota over fences.

Tom then drove onto Warwick where he rides Lion On The Prowl in the bumper for me.

I am heading over the Severn bridge and stopping just before Ireland to have my first visit to Ffos Las; and we also have a runner at Kempton on the all weather tonight.

Sad to see that Terry Mills has lost his battle with cancer and although I did not know him he came across as a real character; condolences to his family.

Also on a sad note Jane Way rang this morning to tell me that her mare Fond Farewell had died early this morning, two weeks before she was due to foal. Poor Jane has not been lucky and to loose the  foal as well who was by Kayf Tara was an added disaster.

At the top of our gallop there is a large dollop of snow still lying under the hedge; I hope it is not waiting for some more to join it.

Farmers will tell you that if snow is still under the hedge rows it is hanging around for something; rather like somebody on a street corner?

Sedgefield is not actually next door but it is always worth the visit; a visit to the northern racecourse is a bit like stepping back 20 years, very friendly but wonderfully old fashioned. Paddys Tern ran as well as he can and finished 3rd and he like virtually every runner that we have sent out recently won a prize i.e. the best turned out, although a winner would be preferable!

It was all happening at Sedgefield yesterday with the writer Sean Magee celebrating 60 years and visiting his final racecourse to achieve a full house; Peter Beaumont saddling his last runner and being presented with a memento from Sir Peter O'Sullevan to mark the occasion, while in the back ground the twittering Cornelius Lysarght was rootling round for a good story and a bit of gossip!

Jason Maguire rode another couple of winners and continues to show that his is one of the best jockeys in the country. It is hard to believe that he has still failed to attract a sponsor, although the only piece he does have sponsored is the bit round his neck which surprisingly says ''4rent''.

At Leicester Constantius, who was driven to the races by Kerry Maxwell and saddled with jockey Gerard Tumelty's help, fluffed his lines when walking through the open ditch.

Tom Siddall and Sean Quinlan were in for a couple of lots this morning and we worked Basoda, Midnight Haze, Regal Approach, Sarde, Supreme Plan, Valento, Admiral Dundas (please somebody buy him as he is great value) Brave Dealer, Even Flo, Golden Button, Oshkosh, Witty Banter, Eastern Supreme, Islamouth, and Smokey George. All the rest cantered. We had hoped to have schooled a few after working but we had a frost last night and the ground was sadly too frozen

No need to stay up last night to watch Murrays Tennis match, instead it will be a case of listening to the match reports while driving John and Pat Cantrill up north to Sedgefield to watch their horse Paddys Tern run. It will be the Cantrill's first visit to Sedgefield and about my third.

Last night dinner at Cheltenham was interesting; it was a race night for the thebestofcheltenham which brought loads of local business's together to see what each other did. Most had never even been to Cheltenham races which I found hard to believe, but hopefully by the time I gave them a few healthy tips and a couple of worthy Festival winners to look forward to more will be going.

Buffalo Bob worked this morning, he along with Real Treasure will heading to Wales on Thursday for my first visit to Ffos Las; Rhiannon is very excited about the days racing as it is not far from her home.

It was sad to read in today's Racing Post of the departure of  Matty Ryan; Matty was undoubtedly one of the most colourful people that I have ever met, yes he really was a true party animal and a fabulous jeweller to boot.

Matty had shares in horses with me many years ago with Phil Nelson; he was a total delight to train for. Matty was an incredibly kind and hugely popular figure in Irish racing, he will be much missed; there will be some party there tomorrow. 

I would like to thank Chris Guy for putting me right on my spelling; Thirsday should have a u in it of course and in my defence rushed emails and no spell check are not ideal, but as Chris rightly pointed out my expensive education was most probably a waste of good money!!

Well, who will win this years Champion Hurdle? Is the great racing debate.

After a weekend when the whole market was turned topsey turvey with last years first and second being well beaten and a new star appearing in Solwhit, anything could happen.

A year is a long time in life, let alone in racing, and Medermit, who beat last years winner Punjabi at Haydock on Saturday, just beat Buffalo Bob in a novice hurdle at Folkestone last year.

The one thing I do know is that neither Buffalo Bob or for that matter Mallusk, who ran down the field at Wincanton on Saturday, are entered and I really cannot see either of them being there next year even with the enormous improvement made by the likes of Solwhit and Medermit; a chase perhaps.

It might be light at 5pm now but it is still bloody dark, damp and cold at 7.15am when first lot pulls out. We had a vet in the yard first thing this morning to scope a couple of this weeks intended runners and our new yard man annoyingly failed to appeared even after asking for directions when 1/2 a mile away at 6.50 this morning; perhaps he was still in bed and dreaming!

Tonight I am co hosting, along with the racecourse, a race evening at Cheltenham racecourse for 200 people who are all part of local business's. Dinner, a short talk by me and 6 races for everybody to get in the mood of being involved; should be a fun and an interesting evening.

It should not be a late night so I should all being well be able to get home in time to watch a great tennis match; Murray verses Nadal. Then it is a case of staying awake, although hopefully the game will be electrifying enough to make sure that I do.

Television is good at the moment; my favourite program 24 reappeared last night on Sky1, so now I have several weeks of suspense and excitement to watch.

TFFFN has arrived home, tanned and exceedingly pleased with his himself..he hardly fell over during his week away, even after lunch.