Ascot yesterday with Lizzie Wills (Blazing Sun) who kindly drove me both ways, which was most helpful and hugely appreciated. Again we all felt that Ascot was far quieter than normal; it was a doddle to drive in and out and you were able to move about with ease.

Great racing again and standing by Ed Dunlop for the first race I was able to rib him over the fact that Harry's appearance in his yard this week has definitely made a difference, especially after the race; a great week for Ed with 2 wins on the board.

The biggest cheer of the day came when Henry Cecil appeared in the winners enclosure; Henry has not been in that hallowed winners enclosure for 7 years. There is no more popular trainer than Henry and the crowd really appreciated his victory with Father Time.

Thankfully Barry Hills's return from hospital yesterday gave him another couple of winners and his Giganticius, who won the last, was the only winner yesterday that was not owned by a Sheikh.

A great weekends sport. The Twenty 20 finals now have England playing in tomorrows final at Lords, sadly not the men's team but at least the Womens English team are the best in the world, they thrashed the Aussies yesterday! Then there is the idea men's final with Sri Lanka taking on Pakistan..no bombs this time please.

Motor racing is in turmoil so lets hope Britain's star driver Jenson Button delivers an emotional home win at Silverstone's last Grand Prix tomorrow; the GB Grand Prix foolishly moves to Donnington next year; that is if there is any Grand Prix's

Thrilling racing yesterday at Royal Ascot. The feature race, the Gold Cup, lived up to all expectations and there was hardly a dry eye in the house after Yeats's record breaking 4th Gold Cup, a record which surely will stand for a very very long time; that is until next year when he will do it all over again!

I pointed out last year after his third Gold Cup win that Yeats had not won nearly as much prize money as our jumping equivalent Kauto Star and it is interesting to note that if you click on their names you will see there has been no change; it does show that jumping is no longer the poor relation.

Leading Australian jump owner Colin McKenna along with friends Tony Jones and Terry Williams called in yesterday to look round Thorndale Farm; they had been to Cheltenham to view the course earlier in the morning.

No Ascot yesterday although we Ascot lunched with Sam Pearman at his pub The Wheatsheaf. Sam whose father Craig used to have shares in loads of good horses including Kings Fountain is keen to start a Wheatsheaf racing syndicate/partnership.

Yesterday was not the best; Worcester was wet and slippery which caused the demise of The Good Guy while Von Galen heads off to the field.

It took over 3 hours to drive to London last night to attend The Conservative Summer Fund Raising Ball in Old Billingsgate, traffic everywhere and London seems to be being dug up.

Jason was in this morning and schooled The Good Guy over fences who showed no ill affects from his slippery fall and then he schooled the Karinga Bay over poles in the school.

Phelps schreil [pschreil@gmail.com] has been trying to con even more people out of their money. I pointed it out on June 9 and I have had so many emails from people who have been approached by him.

Will history be made today? It will be if Yeats wins the Ascot Gold Cup for the fourth time. Ascot has already produced some special moments with two USA wins from the same trainer, jockey and owner combination.

History will be made today when Britain's newest racecourse Ffos Las opens it gates for the first time to a sell out crowd; Hughie Williams was so keen to go that he asked me, by text, if I could sort a couple of tickets out for him.

I wonder if Hughie, who is really quite vocal about his thoughts on how racing is developing and run was wanting to go for the racing or perhaps the draw of a Ladies night in Wales. Sadly Hughie, as far as I know, does not have tickets so we will never find out.

Royal Ascot might have changed for the traditionalist but the new stand, which some say looks like an airport terminal building, has changed the whole experience of Royal Ascot and thankfully people are gradually becoming used to it. Yesterday the place was bursting with life, there were happy faces all over the place especially if you were an Aussie as Scenic Blast flew home, making Tony Jones and Terry Williams (they called in here last week) very happy indeed.

Mat had a difficult night at Newton Abbot when he rightly decided not to run Barathea Blazer, we had declared on good to soft and by the time racing started it was very fast. It was a very long way for his owner Tina Evans to come but she understood that we had the welfare of her horse in mind when pulling out. Good Old Days finished 4th and again he ran well but sadly when he comes off the bridle he just does not find much; surely will find a race or two over the coming months.

I am now going racing at Worcester this afternoon with Von Galen and The Good Guy and forsaking an afternoon back at Ascot although Clare and I will be passing its door later when we head to London tonight for a charity dinner.

He just cannot leave me alone!

No sooner had he had returned from staying in his palatial holiday home in the South Of France TFFFN was over again with two more horses to school over my fences.

It seemed that his whole team were here as not only did we have their stable jockey, the new and beaming proud father Timmy Murphy but also our old part time conditional Tom Malloy.

TFFFN brought along his owner and yard sponsor Chris Coley whose two horses, who run under the name of 'The Yes No Wait Sorries,' partnership were the ones schooling in preparation for Ffos Las on Thursday; he also brought along his number one head lad Fergal and his assistant Sparky.

Sadly I was not here as to see the proceedings as I was not expecting them but luckily Mat was here to over see the performance.

Jason Maguire was in for two lots this morning and schooled Barathea Blazer and Good Old Days in preparation for their runs tonight at Newton Abbot; Jason also schooled Von Galen and The Good Guy.

Royal Ascot today with lunch with John Chalk, sadly no Royal carriage invitation for us, so we will be nose to tail in the car instead, and I wonder how tight my tail coat will be this year!

Who likes Duckworth Lewis. It seems to be a very good reason to fail to make the final 8.

Steve Dunn who bought a 'Morning on the gallops and breakfast' at Ludlow's charity lunch in April, called in on Saturday and rode Basis Point out. Steve is a great motor bike rider, enthusiastic horse rider and has also ridden in a couple of charity races took off round the farm with my team before cantering up the all weather a couple of times; hopefully he enjoyed his morning.

A quiet weekend before a heavy few days at Ascot; yesterday it was five sets of tennis which just about killed me. My partner Asad Noorani was sadly let down by me, although the opposition of Dr John Disney and Huw Davies were far stronger than usual; it just might be something the bold doctor had prescribed from his medicine chest as both played out of their skins!

Alice Reader has moved on to new pastures after spending two seasons with us; Alice who helped out with the box driving when Lou was unable to is off to train and look after Sue Nocks 4 horses; it is a good step for Alice who deserves a job of this nature and I am sure she will do well; good luck to her.

Verity delivered her husband Timmy Murphy a bouncing baby boy to be called Lucas; Lucas's head was well wetted with a celebratory Coke. Congratulations all round.

Mat Nicholls, my head lad, has returned from his weeks holiday in Corfu, looking as though he should have been stopped at immigration. Mat returned home  to find that John Perriss had given him a Tom Tom as a present to celebrate his winning season with his horses Max Bygraves (2) and Even Flo(3); there has been a standing joke here that Mat is incapable of finding his way round the country so at least with his new gadget (providing he can get it to work) he should be able to find his way to Newton Abbott tomorrow.

There are a couple of new inmates to Foxcotes fields, the two Kune Kune Pigs are really quite speedy, especially when chasing the horses when we walk through their field.

Harry Bailey starts work for Ed Dunlop today. Harry is there until September when he then returns to Newcastle University. The 4.30am starts will sort him out.

It always amazes me that when I pass out our local Shipton Golf course how many cars are parked outside waiting for it to open at 7am.

Shipton Golf course which has 9 holes and no bunkers is run by local farmer/entrepreneur Mike Evans who is one of many hugely helpful locals, Mike kindly lends me equipment to look after my paddocks when needed; his golf course must be a far better way of earning a living than farming although snow and flooding do hinder even the most ardent golfers from parting with their money.

We worked The Good Guy, Good Old Days, Von Galen, Barathea Blazer and The Karinga Bay gelding this morning.

Happy birthday Moo!