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Plus 10 and dry when driving in.

If I said that the week was going to get worse I would have been troubled.. It did.

Yes it was great to be back at Hereford Racecourse and the locals poured out of town to support.

The course looked spick and span for the occasion and there was a very happy feel about the place. We have missed it and yes we were delighted to be back.

The down side was the calling of the ground. It was not good as forecasted and that was changed to good to firm early yesterday morning.

Why is it that Clerks of the courses, knowing the weather, can't call it correctly 24 hours before. It was always going to be good to firm but they ''insisted'' that the ground was going to be good; hence I declared three.

I walked the course along with Mat Nicholls and John Perriss and we found the course in great condition with plenty of grass and level, but it was fast ground. The result was that we took Gallery Exhibition out and he became one of 10 horses that did not run.

I rang one of GE’s owners Gerard Clinton (birthday today) who was driving from deepest Devon. I managed to stop him at Gloucester, but it was an un necessary call..Yesterday was a costly one for the owners as GE should have stayed at home..

I know the Clerks have a difficult job but this was an easy call by some standards and they were wrong in their ground description.

Moving on.

Milan Express ran a most encouraging race and finished 4^th. She was rather green and showed her lack of experience but we were happy. The same cannot be said about Trojan Star who looked happy in front but suddenly decided that he wanted to go home when approaching the third fence in front of the stands and exited himself taking David Bass with him .. well that was about it.. David Bass deposited and fuming and Matt Lambert, his owner, had a five hour drive home…  Yes the week ended on a bad note.

Both horses seem fine this morning thankfully.

My temper was not a good and Mrs B hearing it and then seeing it suggested a night out. We dined somewhere new in Cheltenham. The East India Cafe.. Prithvi was predictably fully booked but East India Cafe was a very able replacement and one we will certainly go to again.

David Bass hobbled into the yard this morning with a big smile and helped us jump over the hurdles on the all weather.

David with the help of Ed Cookson, Henry Morshead and Fionn Summers we jumped....

Alfies Choice, Another Venture, Aliandy, Aunty Ann, Bandon Roc, Battle Dust, Boy In A Bentley, Champagne To Go, Champion Chase, Charbel, Chateau Robin, Cresswell Legend, Dueling Banjos, Laval Noir, Mr Brinkley, My Cousin Rachel, Patsys Castle, Policy Breach, Pulling Power, Kings Simba, Queer Times, Robin The Raven, Rockys Treasure, Sainte Ladylime, Shaluna, Sonneofpresenting, Texas Forever, The Drinkymeister, The Last Samuri, Vital Evidence, Younevercall and Un Ace. A video of the second lot of horses can be seen here.

Graham Potts our vet was in this morning.

Charlie Green and Jamie McGuire called in late morning to say hello. Charlie and Jamie worked here 4 years ago; Charlie rode Harry Topper every day in his early life and in his first bumper when winning at Hereford.. Anyway they wanted to see us and of course Charlie wanted to see his old mate.. Good to see the.. Charlie and Jamie now live in Ireland.

Thoughts for John and Mandy Battershall.. On honeymoon in Jamaca.. blown away? hope not..

A man in Alberta wakes up one morning to find a bear on his roof.

So he looks in the yellow pages and sure enough, there's an ad for "Alberta Bear Removers."

He calls the number and the man says he'll be over in 30 minutes.

The bear remover arrives and gets out of his van. He's got a ladder, a baseball bat, 12-gauge shotgun, and a mean heavily scarred old pit bull.

"What are you going to do?" the homeowner asks.

"I'm going to put this ladder up against the roof, then I'm going to go up there and I’ll knock the bear off the roof with this baseball bat. When the bear falls off the roof, the pit bull is trained to grab his testicles and not let go. The bear will then be subdued enough for me to put him in the cage in the back of the van."

He then hands the shotgun to the homeowner.

"What's the shotgun for?" asks the homeowner.

"If the bear knocks me off the roof, shoot the dog."

Happy birthday to Jamie Butchard. Jamie left to work in the USA some years ago.. I wonder what he is upto..