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Plus 3 and dry when driving in.

Staying in Lincoln we were up early yesterday morning. A healthy breakfast before leaving to Leicester Racecourse.. we were not expecting to be eating there…Judging by past visits.

Before we left Clare and I visited Lincoln Cathedral.. Quite stunning.

On arriving at Leicester racecourse we were offered a meal ticket.. what was that we asked?. a £15 voucher for main course in their restaurant..

After watching Braw Angus finish down the field and Ben Arthur finish 5th . BA’s owners Mark and Melinda Laws and Martyn and Sandra Steer Fowler abd Tim and Anita Dymond, who own Pulling Power, decided to try out this new lunch offer..

Clare and I joined in and to all our surprise we had a good chicken lunch and served with a smile.

Melinda was 'difficult' and asked for something different due to an allergy and to all our amazement a fish course was produced out of the blue and also with a smile..

Blood hell Leicester what a transformation, it even made up for Pulling Power being brought down or rather jockey knocked off at the last when in with a place chance bearable. (all yesterdays runners are fine this morning)

After so many years of groaning at the thought of having to go racing at Leicester, and with owners asking me not to run horses there because of the way their were treated, the penny has finally dropped.. look after your owners and they will be happy and return.. Yesterday was a first and we were delighted, as were other trainers and owners.. we will return… please keep it up..

While on the subject

Leigh Pollard, who is my travelling Head Girl, is going to be adding a few comments on my blog about how racecourses look after staff when it comes to a days racing.

Here is a run down of Leigh's general thoughts.

''It must be hard for Racecourses to cater for so many and you get the impression that most places are doing the best they can with what they have.

Raceourses like Uttoxeter and Ludlow excel themselves with the facilities they have and both provide large filling meals that are reasonably priced. I actually look forward to going to these Racecourses because of the food.

Obviously those Racecourses that provide free food for the stable staff should be applauded and set the standard for other courses. Racecourses like Ascot and Cheltenham are good and the accomodation at Ascot is top class too; but it is nice to go to courses like Bangor, Chepstow and Market Rasen and be fed for free.

Newbury give you a £2 voucher which is a nice start, but for a racecourse like that you would think they would be able to provide free meals, especially considering the money they have spent on the refurb; a £2 vouchure does not buy you much either?

At the other end of the scale there are places that you make sure you eat on the way to!!

Huntingdon is not great, just microwave meals that are not worth the £5 they charge. Frankly Huntingdon is the worst place for stable staff and horses. The yard and facilities are all poor so it makes sense that the food would be too!!

Towcester is very disappointing now; since they added the greyhound track it seems that horse racing and stable staff are an afterthought. They cook everything at 10 in the morning and it sits in trays under lights all day. The staff are not great either, mostly kids brought in for the day that have no idea what they are doing.

For example the last time I was there I had not had time to eat so I went after our last runner to get takeaway. The staff could not find or be bothered to fetch a container to put the chips in, so I had to settle for a sausage bap; the sausages were dry from being under the heat lamps all day. Not ideal when I was starving after a busy day.

Stable Staff don't need gourmet food, just quick hot filling food at a cheap price. We don't have time to wait for ages and we just want somewhere comfortable to sit.

At some places we are spoilt...all the Scottish Racecourses go out of their way to look after you if you are staying over.

We have a hard and a busy job which we love, but we just need it to be made as easy as possible and appreciated by racecourses.''

Wincanton was abandonned yesterday so no comments on what they would have produced.. Sedgefield today.. read Leigh's thoughts tomorrow..

Tom Bellamy was in for a couple of lots.. We jumped Sainte Ladylime, Dueling Banjos and Texas Forever over fences.

Douglas and Sylvia Wilkes called in to see their KBRP horses Silver Kayf and Ascotdeux Nellerie.. I forgot so they only saw Nellie out!

We have 3 runners today. 2 at Sedgefield and one at Exeter. For my thoughts please click here.

''‘I don't need a personal trainer so much as I need someone to follow me around and slap unhealthy foods out of my hand.’