Baileys Blog

Plus 5  and dry when driving in

Kelso here we come..

John Benson called in to see his KBRS horses Phantom Getaway, Parc d'Amour and El Rio.

Arc weekend.. one of the best racing experiences.

We have just the one runner over the weekend and that is Jeudidee at Uttoxeter tomorrow. For our thoughts please click here.

A pensioner drove his brand new Mercedes Benz to 100 mph. Looking in his rear view mirror, he sees a cop behind him, signaling to pull over. He floored it to 140 , then 150, then 155, and 160…Suddenly he thought, "Shit man, I'm too old for this nonsense!"

So he pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the cop to catch up with him.

The officer walked up to him, looked at his watch and said, "Sir, my shift ends in ten minutes. And guess what, today is Friday and I'm taking off for the weekend with my family to the beach. If you can give me a good, solid reason for your insane speeding that I've never heard before, I promise you that I will let you go."

The Man looked very seriously at the police man, and replied, "Officer, few years ago, my wife ran off with a policeman and I thought you were bringing her back."

The cop left saying, " Have a good day, Sir "

Plus 4 and dry when driving in.. Two days on the trot!

World smile day!

It seemed to me that some of ARC big wigs were at Southwell yesterday.. The sunny afternoon must have brought them all out.

Talking sunny..permatanned and complexions.. Matt Chapman was there for ATR and it was good to see him.. A work alcoholic who is good for racing.

Gerard Mentor just does not like Southwell.. Bar finishing down the field in his bumper he has never completed..

I have said it many times before, but they try hard at Southwell.. Talking trying hard, it was good to see DB ride a winner there yesterday.

Friday morning brings in our usual vet visit and we took a few away for 'an away day' late morning.

Calum Carter and Venessa Jones were here second lot to see their KBRS horse Isle Of Gold

Carrying on the theme from the last two days..

Skinny little Irish man goes into an elevator, looks up and sees this HUGE black guy standing next to him.

The big guy sees the little Irish man staring at him, he looks down and says: ‘7 feet tall, 350 pounds, 20-inch penis, 3 pounds of testicles, Turner Brown.’

The little white Irish man faints and falls to the floor.

The big guy kneels down and brings him to, shaking him.. The big guy says, ‘What’s wrong with you?’

In a weak voice the little guy says, ‘What EXACTLY did you say to me?’

The big dude says, ‘I saw your curious look and figured I’d just give you the answers to the questions everyone always asks me……

I’m 7 feet tall, I weigh 350 pounds, I have a 20-inch penis, my testicles weigh 3 pounds each and my name is Turner Brown.’

The little white Irish man says: ‘Turner Brown?! …. Sweet Jesus, I thought you said, ‘Turn around!!!!

Plus 4 and dry when driving in.. Clear skies!

We met my three new grand-daughters last night. They were moved to Swindon last week so it great to finally meet them.

Healthy and well and probably another 10 days and they will be going home.

Supper on the way home at The Waterside Bar and Kitchen.

The latest on Lauren Hawkins.

“Following her fall and subsequent head injury at Worcester Racecourse on 1 September, amateur jockey Lauren Keen-Hawkins has been transferred from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham to the Gloucester Royal Hospital where she continues to make steady progress with her rehabilitation.

She is mobile with assistance, and although confused from time to time, her mental functioning is improving.  Lauren’s family anticipate she will be discharged from hospital in the relatively near future to continue her recovery at home and with Out-Patient Therapy from both the NHS and the Injured Jockeys Fund. They would like to thank everyone for their kind messages of support for Lauren.”

Since Lauren has moved to Gloucester many of my team have been to see her.. Great to hear of her progress..

We have a runner at Southwell today where they are watering.. Nottingham's race meeting (15 miles down the road) was waterlogged and abandonned yesterday!

Gerard Mentor runs there today and for my thoughts please click here..

The Womens T20 World Cup starts today..

Taking yesterdays story about Big Dick ..

This was in Tuesday 'Times'... Peter Wheatley sent this over..

'The death at 79 of the Fleet Street legend Revel Baker, once managing editor of The Mirror, brought an email from a colleague recalling that at 6ft 8in, Barker was one of the few who could look down on Robert Maxwell.

One woman cheekily asked him if everything was in proportion. 'Madam' Baker said.. 'If it was, I would be 9ft 6in tall.'

Peter commented after sending.. Being 5ft 4in I have been asked on numerous occasions of there was any thruth in the old maxim of 'big man big dick, little man all dick'..

Peter apparently has always refrained form responding!!

Plus 12 and drizzling when driving in..15mm overnight.

Ciaran Gethings was in this morning to ride out..

Winters here..the breakfasts have started again..

Rod and Mary Evans and Rob and Helen Williams were here for a 'morning on the gallops and breakfast'.. Todays was a Charity auction prize.

Richard Farquhar, who seems to spend much of his life walking for Racing Welfare was here third lot to see his Turf Club horse Broomfield Present.

Richard Chugg of Weatherbys Hamilton was here late morning to discuss my Insurance premiums!!

Maya my PA has gone on holiday!! Marbella apparantly..

Mat informed me first thing that his favourite food is so popular that 75 billion of them are are eaten every year around the world..I added that I thought Pork was more popular?

Mat was on a boat trip on the Thames in London and he went past Big Ben.

His cockney guide told them ‘ Big Ben was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw the installation of the Great Bell. We are grateful it was not named after his brother Richard.’

Said in a deadpan voice, it was some seconds before the chuckles started.

I don't know if this needs explaining for some non English readers.

Plus 10 and raining when driving in.

A new month.. ..

Always good to be back at Thorndale and yesterday watching the horses round the sand and hill gallops was most rewarding.

Gone are the days when after a week away you face a mountain of mail.. Thankfully, that does not happen now.. Only catalogues and junk mail.. Those who want to get hold of me either use email or mobile..!

Harking back on our break..

Mrs B was delighted to have the chance to read a book last week..Her usual reading is certainly not on my list, but when she started laughing I was slightly taken aback as her books are usually far too deep thinking for that.. Her laughter was caused by reading Gavin Pritchard-Gordon's book 'Follow Your Leader.'.

I borrowed when she had finished.. Brilliantly funny book, written by a trainer who enjoyed life.. If you are remotely interested in a trainers life in the 70/90s then you need to read this one..

Talking.. That is something I am going to be doing at Kelso Racecourse on Saturday night..I am guest speaker at their Wheelchair Challenge Dinner and Auction the evening is in aid of Graham Lee and MS Society Borders Branch..I am sure there are still tickets available ..£45p including dinner if you fancy going email Rhona Elliott on theyett@btconnect.com or ring 07976959944.

On Sunday they race at Kelso and it will be a family fun day again helping raise money for Graham Lee and MS Society Borders Branch..

Is this a sign that cricket ownership is moving away from the clubs..How many clubs will follow suit as so many, including Gloucestershire, are in dire financial needs.

Tuesday brings in our usual vet visit and this week’s movers and shaker in the BHA handicap charts were..Faerie Cutlass down 1 to 90 and Zmiinyi enters at 83.

It is the ability to take a joke, not make one that proves you have a sense of humour... Hence...

Plus 12, very dark and raining when driving in. A further 20mm..

Talk about rain.. Rather not as you have had so much this last week. 140mm of rain landed on Thorndale while we were away... Shocking.. Pictures from around the world show that we were not the only country to suffer.. Yes, Climate Change?

Just over a week ago Mrs B and I arrived in Barcelona. A very exciting city to visit and we have longed to go there.. It did not disappoint, although when we joined a small tour of the city of Friday it just bucketed it down with rain.

So hard was the rain that the streets became almost impassable for the torrents of water that came down those wonderful, paved and cobbled side streets. The Gargoyles were spouting rivers from their mouths from the top of buildings.. you had to be very careful where you went to avoid a proper soaking..

Much of our City tour had to be cancelled due to the rain which was sad. We did though go to the Park Güell and the stunning and extraodinary Basílica de la Sagrada Família, but we missed out on several really important museums that will now have to wait for another visit.

Friday night and supper near the Port.. First course of razor clams, something Mat would certainly not eat and after finishing them I knew I was in trouble.. I rushed to the loo and predictably all that I had eaten that day came up and out, thankfully into the right bowl, but not in the right loo.. In my haste I did not look at the signs and the Ladies who were hoping for a quiet sit down had to wait!....As you can imagine it was not the romantic evening that we hoped for!.

Saturday and still not feeling my best we hired a car and drove for nearly 3 hours to a hotel that was highly recommend to us by Richard and Georgie Barrow… The journey to La Torre del Visco quickly showed what a third world country the UK has become as the roads in Spain were immaculate and we never saw a pot hole in the 500 miles that we drove last week..We also never lost any mobile contact.. great roaming..

The last 4 miles to reach La Torre del Visco was down a dirt track.. This hotel really is off the beaten track but when we arrived, we knew our stay was going to be very special.. Peace and quiet and stunning. Not a TV heard or even in sight and thankfully the Wi-Fi worked well enough so that Mat and I could keep in touch.. this hotel really is a very special retreat!

4 days of relaxing and recovering my appetite!. We then moved on to Altafulla were we spent the last few days in a hotel near the beach.

I have never really spent much time in Spain as we love Italy, but we thoroughly enjoyed our trip and saw some stunning villages and Roman sights... Parts of where we went, especially the first part reminded us so much of Tuscany in Italy..

Home on Saturday afternoon and straight round evening stables to look at all the horses with Charly.

Horses look well and they have survived a torrid week. Charly showed me pictures of the week including some pictures of the hail stones that landed.... mini cricket balls!.. Talking cricket I missed Lord's!.. But I went to watch yesterday's match in Bristol. Annoyingly Australia won the series 3/2..

Mat has had a torrid week as the rain moved the bottom of our hill gallop. Thankfully Andrews Bowen were here in quick time to put it back so not too many days were lost.. Andrews Bowen and their team will be back again this week with some new surface to replace areas that were worst affected…. That’s the service that you come to expect from Andrews Bowen.. Not sure how many gallop suppliers would be that efficient?

The round gallop although was flooded drained quickly and has been perfect to use.

To finish.. A big thank you to all my guest bloggers who I hope you found interesting. 

So here we are on Monday morning and a new week starts. Weather again forecasted to play havoc…

Don't leave anything for later.

Later, the coffee gets cold.

Later, you lose interest.

Later, the day turns to night.

Later, people grow old.

Later, Life goes by.

Later, you regret not doing something when you had the chance..

Please note that shares in our latest KBRS horse Name Me Nicely are going quickly..

Plus 11 and dry

Todays guest blogger was meant to have been Worcester racecourse clerk of the course Libby O'Flaherty.. Sadly her musings seem to have disappeared into the heavens of the cloud.... Spam?

Chris Flavell was here third lot to see KBRS horse Magical Escape. 

Jane Beyts & Liz Humphreys also came up to see El Rio, Reallyntruthfully, Grand Escaparde & Name Me Nicely.

Plus 8 and wet...

Good morning all, Richard Chugg here of insurance broker Weatherbys Hamilton 

Plus something and probably raining wherever you are this morning; plus 24 in Barcelona – not long until you return home Kim so make the most of the last couple of days away!

What an honour to be asked by KCB to write today’s blog – I have a very hard act to follow after the other contributions this week!

I last wrote on the blog midst Covid over 4 years ago, in fact it was on the day when the WHO reported the most new cases in a single day - 106,000 worldwide of Covid-19 and America announced that their COVID-19 death toll passes 100,000– does seem an age ago now? Interest rates were at 0.1% and heating oil 29p. How it has all changed…

What’s happening in my world of insurance? Well, if you have renewed your own car or house insurance recently you will no doubt have experience significant increases in premium; “I haven’t claimed in 30 years so why should I pay more?” – we all have to share the pain of an increasing number of claims and this erratic weather is not helping anyone with property insurance premiums, coupled with the fact that the cost of building materials doesn’t seem to stop rising, which is all having an impact on premiums. 

No doubt Kim is looking forward to our annual insurance review meeting next week – one of the major expenses for a trainer is their Public & Employers Liability cover – over the past 3 years, premiums have trebled in this area due to an increase in employers liability claims; it is a small industry and there simply wasn’t enough funds in “the pot” to settle the claims – we hope that we are at a point now where these premium increases are stabilising. 

When it comes to claims, we simply don’t know what will be next – recently, a client’s dog chewed and swallowed a hearing aid (!). They retrieved the hearing aid the next day in the garden – but funnily enough it didn’t work! Claim settled. 

Weatherbys Hamilton have recently published our annual newsletter which you will hopefully find interesting..

We have two runners today at Worcester. Jeudidee and Zmiinyi.. For our thoughts please click here.. 

Plus 11 and damp...

Hello, Cornelius Lysaght here, feeling a bit up against it following the outstanding contributions by Marcus, Richie and Robert, but thanks to Kim for the opportunity – I hope that literally the first thing I heard on the radio yesterday, that it was pouring down hardest in Cornwall, hasn’t cramped his style too much. 

For me, the week has been something of a W–W–W sort of time – all about Warwick, Worcester and Windsor. 

Warwick is about the nearest course to home, and it was an absolute delight to see the new-season underway on ground that had clearly absorbed Monday’s deluges miraculously well. So miraculously in fact that on walking around, and then studying the brimming rain gauge, the new clerk of the course Nessie Chanter told me she half-wondered if an intruder had broken in for a late-night p***. 

I do a bit of work at Worcester, and I’ve been prepping for the course’s big day of the ‘summer circuit’ tomorrow, featuring the £70,000 Dragonbet Fixed Brush Hurdle Series Final. It looks like the cracker that they deserve, with the fifteen declared runners having won 21 races between them during the summer, though one that hasn’t been successful is attracting plenty of attention, namely Backmersackme trained by Willie Mullins’ nephew Emmet and one of two Irish challengers (the other being Willie’s three-time winner Fine Margin). 

Everyone knows how shrewd Emmet’s reputation justifiably is, and the horse certainly looks intriguing: he qualified for the Final by finishing fourth at Southwell in June and since then has run in two flat races. (However, judged by the rainfall here, not that far-away, mudlarks may be to the fore.) Also at Worcester the Bowens are looking strong (again), and congratulations to Sean for his four-timer at Perth, with Olly Murphy, taking the jockey passed the fifty-winner mark. Meanwhile, I see that Backmersackme’s stablemate This Songisforyou has the bookies running for cover ahead of the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket on Saturday.

At Windsor, I’m involved in the countdown to the Fitzdares-sponsored jumping-return at the track on Sunday 15 December which is gathering pace, as are plans for the Winter Million – now switched from Lingfield for three all-national hunt days, shared with Ascot – taking place on January 17–19. Although there were six jumping fixtures at Windsor in 2004 and 2005, days moved from Ascot during its re-development, there’s been nothing else since 1998 when the then managers made the crushingly disappointing decision to concentrate on their Monday evenings. 

What a welcome shot in the arm the reversal of that, the brainchild of Martin Cruddace at ARC and intended to be permanent, is to a sport just when it needs every boost it can get. I’m sure supporters will vote with their feet when the new-look, left-handed, galloping track (no figure-of-eight anymore) comes into use. 

My first visit to the course was 43 years ago – I found the racecard the other day – attending with Mr M Armytage (7) to see him making his chasing debut on Brown Jock (but unfortunately not troubling the judge). 

Final thought: if Windsor’s actions set a precedent then maybe it could happen at defunct Towcester too.

There was once a jump jockey who’d been nagged by his trainer (not KCB) to phone and offer condolences to an elderly owner whose wife had died. He promised to make the call on his way to ride at the Northamptonshire course and got through okay, before saying all the right things about a lovely lady and a great loss etc. After a moment or two, the conversation rather dried up, and to end the silence, the jockey inquired: “Are you going to Towcester?” A slightly startled owner replied: “No, I’m going to bury her.” 

Have a good day…

Todays blog guest is 'Sir Bob' . Robert Cooper ..

Plus 23 and dry in..Berlin. Sunny. (Apparently about 115mm of rain at Thorndale in last 3/4 days)

Pity I’m the only guest blogger so far not to have ridden a treble for Kim. It’s not going to happen..

Summer may have come to a juddering halt in England but here in Berlin there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky for weeks; I am here for four days visiting my daughter. Although feeling smugly sun-blessed, I am pleased that the climate at home is preparing itself for the imminent launch of the ‘real’ jumps campaign. 

I am honoured to have made it on to the shortlist of Kim’s ‘guest’ bloggers - I have always regarded him as an Essex lad ‘come well good’. I spent my formative years in God’s own county, just a few miles from Kim’s family base in Roxwell near Chelmsford, where his father trained. Way back in the 1960s Ken Bailey trained a marvellous staying chaser - Mac Joy - and although passing time inevitably addles the memory - I recall he won quite a few high profile chases, maybe one at Sandown with stars like the legendary Team Spirit behind him. 

I played cricket with Kim in the school summer holidays, and again my rose-coloured specs may distort the truth, but I remember he was a very enthusiastic and talented player; no wonder Archie has done so well this autumn for Gloucestershire. It’s in the genes. 

Keeping abreast of what’s going on at home from abroad is so simple these days; I watched a few Saturday replays on the Racing TV and At The Races apps and the undoubted highlight was 12 year-old Not So Sleepy’s swan song at Newbury. What a fantastic horse - winning at Grade One level over hurdles and in Group company on the flat. He has more than earned an honourable retirement. I had vainly attempted to watch the latest ODI against those ‘orrible Aussies, but somehow I was barred from doing so - luckily as it turned out as once again England were trounced.

If you have yet to visit Berlin, give it a try - wonderful food, plenty of green areas and parks and so much to see. Historically I doubt any other European city has witnessed so many changes in the past 100 years. There’s plenty to enjoy, even for a clapped out recently retired pensioner.This has turned out to be a multi-cultural visit; on Saturday we saw Puccini’s Turandot - Nissan Doormat et al - at the Staatsoper, and by stark contrast this evening we are seeing Lankum, a radical Irish folk band.  Back in the day Fairport Convention changed the dynamic of folk music, with drums and guitars, plus Sandy Denny’s mesmerising voice.  Lankum have taken a further onward step in the genre; their latest album False Lankum was deservedly listed on many Best Of lists last year.

Retirement is great - I’m viewing it as a vastly expanded gap year. Immediate plans are to watch Sweet Reward run later this week for the Old Stoic Racing Club, probably at Newmarket on Friday. He’s overdue a win after some decent placed efforts. If the weather relents I may also head to Chelmsford and watch Essex thrash Surrey, the newly  anointed county Champions. As I’m sure you know, you can take the man out of Essex but …