Not terribly sure which was worse, listening to our cricket teams batting collapse against South Africa while driving to Uttoxeter or watching Willing Weasels dismal display when I arrived.

Even the addition of my wicket keeping cousin James Foster, now at last playing for the English team did not help (he was out for one, caught brilliantly) our teams performance.

There is though good news on the horizon as now we can all pin a bit of hope on the return of Freddie Flintoff who after another lengthy lay off took a wicket with his second ball yesterday, he looks in fine shape.. a month to go to the first npower Ashes test match and like with all trainers thoughts, the question is ''will he stay sound?.''

There was a huge ray of sunlight at Uttoxeter last night which meant that the fences down the home straight were not jumped due to the low sun, although the hurdles were; the jockeys riding could not see them in the glare but then they are smaller!.

Doctor Disney ran most encouragingly and finished a fast finishing 6th; DD was badly hampered on the bend turning away from the stands and lost a huge amount of ground, so much that I thought he was going to be tailed off at one stage, but then once on an even keel he simply flew home.

Doctor Disney has great promise and potential and Tom Siddall was very pleased with him. Named after my tennis partner and Doctor and although he was not too keen on being immortalised we came to a compromise and removed the e in Disney!

Jason Maguire was in this morning to school over my plastic hurdles on the all weather. He schooled The Good Guy, Barathea Blazer, Von Galen and Basis Point.

TFFFN is off away sunning himself in his Villa in the South Of France so it was left for Richard Bevis (sparky) TFFFN's 2nd assistant to ring and ask if they could bring a couple of horses over this morning to school over the plastic hurdles, and of course being neighbourly I agreed; so you can imagine how surprised when I saw two horseboxes pull into the yard with six horses and six jockeys!

Fergal TFFFN's number one man soon took charge and organised the session which was headed by their stable jockey Timmy Murphy, helped by Paddy Brennan and Sam Twiston Davies (who no doubt will soon be taking Paddy's job) and three others. Always great to see Timmy smiling, he is a man of immense talent who is soon to be a father.

After they had all gone we set off to Deer Park with Lucky Luk to school him over timber fences for the first time; all part of his preparation for a possible tilt at this years Pardubice in October. Jason Maguire was thrilled with the way he jumped as was his owner Elizabeth Kellar who along with Paul received an early morning call from me to say that we were schooling helped by Jonty Evans.

The power of the internet is huge and this morning I received an email from Kevin Hocking to thank me for alerting him about the latest scam that was doing the rounds. Apparently our dubious friend has also been buying show horses for loads of money on fraudulent cheques..Tut tut.

Yesterday was a day of mixing contrasts.

Mid afternoon two Australians Terry Williams and Tony Jones drove up the drive and asked to have a look round. They have been staying locally for the last couple of weeks and are jumping racing nuts, something you don't find in many Australians as jump racing down under is almost finished, so Terry and Tony are a rare breed.

They had been round Cheltenham Racecourse in the morning and just could not believe what they were seeing, especially after a days racing at Worcester on Sunday; anyway they are travelling round the area enjoying the fruits of the Cotswolds before heading to Royal Ascot all next week as guests of the Elio Anthony Galante and partners who own on of the two Australian runners Scenic Blast.

Constantius last night looked like bolting up at Southwell turning into the straight and then stopped like he was shot. Personally I think he needs a good summer holiday although Don Churston, his owner, is keen to move him on; so if any of you would like to lease Constantius for this coming winter he is here, it is a free one i.e. you pay all training fees and you collect 100% of prize money; he will run in your colours and basically he is yours and I know he will win. please ring me on 07831416859 to discuss.

To end the day it was a celebratory dinner with John and Penny Perriss to celebrate their great season with their two horses Max Bygraves (2 wins) and Even Flo (3wins). I must not forget that they also have a share in the Dream Makers Partnership who own Double Mead (1 win)

The hardest decision for John and Penny was choosing the venue; first choice was Number 5 in Winchcombe, but that was closed as the owners bizarrely were having a night off to see Take That in Coventry, second choice was The Kingham Plough but they never answered their phone (always on ansaphone) and third choice was The Horse and Groom which was brilliant. We really had a fabulous evening and we came home bearing gifts of thanks for the staff who are involved with the two horses.

Tom Siddall was in for two lots this morning and rode work on Barathea Blazer and Good Old Days; we also worked the Karinga Bay gelding, Basis Point, The Good Guy and Von Galen.

Tania Yeomans and her father called in mid morning to see her two horses Thenameescapesme and Koi Roy

It never ceases to amaze me how many scams there are about all trying to con money out of you. Earlier in the year there was one going round asking trainers to sell horses and paying by fraudulent cheques; now it seams that there is another one going round, almost doing the same thing, this time by asking if you were interested in selling you horsebox.

This is the reply I received.

Thanks for your mail back, also for the information of your horse
box, which I guarantee you of a good home for the horse box. I must tell you am really interested about the horse box for 25000 ,and also I hope the horse box is in good condition and Concerning the shipment of the horse box from your location to my location, this will be handle by my shipping agent, who will be coming directly to your location for the pickup of the horse box . he will prepare the paper work he can use for clearance and also for the shipment of the horse box. This is all the requirements needed at this time. The shipping agent will handleevery other thing necessary when he arrives to your location,. So I will like to pay the 25000 for the horse box plus an extra 100 for you to keep other buyers off till it is picked up by the shipping agent.

So please get back to me, and also keep other buyers off. My client
who owes me will send you a bank certified cheque of 25,400.Can I
trust you to have it cashed?, take your 25100 and send the balance
to the agent, so he will be using the rest of the money for the pick
up of the horse and any other things regarding the horse box? If yes,kindly reply with the following payment details so I can inform himto make out payment to you.

FIRST NAME................?
LAST NAME.................?
ADDRESS................?
CITY.......................?
STATE....................?
ZIP CODE..................?
COUNTRY....................?
PHONE NUMBER (S).................?

Looking forward to your soonest reply, My very warm regards to your family,.

Sincerely

phelps schreil [pschreil@gmail.com]

This email started as a result of an advert placed two years ago when I was selling my old horsebox anyway I just hope nobody is that stupid to fall for the above!.

4 days away in Port Andratx staying with Simon and Lucy Sherwood was most relaxing and very welcome; we took loads of exercise, swimming, walking and in the process I thought I sprained the ligament in my foot, most uncomfortable!

We were meant to be home early Saturday morning to attend my brother in law Peter Mordaunt's daughter Anna's wedding, but flying Ryanair can at times mean that important meetings just don't happen. Unfortunately for us Ryanair decided to cancel our early Saturday morning flight and put us on one that flew back to Birmingham on Saturday evening.

We were not happy or popular although we did manage to make the post wedding lunch yesterday helped by the fact that it rained so hard at Worcester that my two top of the ground horses stayed at home.

The holiday period carries on with Mat now away in Corfu and Higgs heading home to Ireland..we think.

While we were away TFFFN brought half a dozen horses over to jump our all weather hurdles set up on our all weather gallop. Jockeys that came across included Paddy Brennan, Sam Twiston Davies, David England, Tom Malloy, Sam Drinkwater and Timmy Murphy and according to Mat Timmy was the only one who smiled after!

TFFFN is very happy with himself, as is the Hollow Bottom, now that he has his old mate Carl LLewellyn back with him as a a business partner. Carl who was controversially sacked after three seasons at Weathercock did look far from happy to pose for photos after winning the Bet365 (The Whitbread) chase at Sandown.

Jason Maguire and Tom Siddall called yesterday to school The Good Guy and Barathea Blazer over fences.

Jason appeared in a gleaming new BMW as a result of writing his own off when rushing to Hexham races on Saturday; a Land Rover took a shine to him on one of those narrow back roads. The bad news for Jason was that his intended horse did not run when he finally arrived shaken and battered at the course and he then had the long journey home on the back on a low loader.

The legendary Michael Stroud and his wife Hillary who had been staying with TFFFN for his open day were delivered over to Thorndale mid morning by the great trainer himself.

TFFFN now drives everywhere in his new two horsebox as he says it is far more economical and comfortable than his supercharged Range Rover, which only does about 17 miles to the gallon. The back roads round Naunton have become really quite dangerous now as he still continues to drive it like he was in his RR.

It was great to see Michael who is an old friend, Michael has over the years bought a great many horses for both TFFFN and myself and perhaps his best buy was the famous Grand National winner Bindareee

Very sad news yesterday, Jim Wilson rang to tell me that a very old friend, Catherine (Myrtle) Flach (Meyer) passed away. Life can be incredibly cruel at times and Myrtle who had been so very brave certainly did not deserve to go through what she did. Our thoughts go out to her husband Peter and young daughter Daisy.