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Plus 10 and dry when driving in..

There is at last some noise back in the yard.. Yesterday we brought in...Adjourned, Arthurs Sixpence, Cresswell Legend, Dansant Express, Diamond Gait, El Presente, Flirtatious Girl, Fubar, Illuminated Beauty, Talk Of Fame and Yeavering Belle...

Shoes on and now to be ridden..

One of the saddest stories in racing. Kim Gingell the daughter of Colin and Pauline Tizzard died last week after a short battle with cancer..

We saw Kim at Cheltenham in March.

A very special person who will be deeply missed.. Huge condolences to the Tizzard family and her husband Dave and son Freddie.. All too sad

Richard Chugg has kindly taken up the mantle of the Kim Bailey Racing Community spirit..

My daily routine starts Monday to Saturday 0705, KCB blog, if it’s not up by 0730 then clearly there is a problem! No Racing Posts left in the local garage or maybe another puncture?! 

Even when on holiday, the blog is the first read of  the day and of course it is very important to know the temperature in the UK whilst away on holiday! Keeping the blog going during these times must be very difficult but when you have to ask your insurance broker to write something, then options must be running low!

I grew up near Worcester where my parents breed National Hunt horses; several have graduated to Thorndale over  the years – Supreme Present probably being the standout. As a hobby breeder myself a good few years ago, I was proud to breed Malindi Bay who won several races when with Kim.

Life on the farm took a change to a life in the office where I am a Partner at Weatherbys Hamilton, the insurance broking arm of Weatherbys; I have looked after Kim’s insurances for some 12 years or so now, whether that be the house, yard, liabilities, horses, car and travel; we also insure many of the horses in the yard for the owners.

If you had told me in January that come mid March we would all be working home for at least 2 months, we would have all had a mass panic and run around wondering how on earth we were going to cope, but everyone in the company has adapted to working from home extremely well – this will surely change the way we work going forward.I have never seen so much of the people in our other offices, Zoom and other video conferencing facilities – the way forward!

My home office is shared with my wife in her curtain making room so there can be a sewing machine churning away in the background during Zoom meetings which can cause amusement. I normally drive 30,000 miles per annum; I put quarter of a tank of diesel in the car yesterday as I didn’t want the fuel to go stale!

I live in Lambourn with my wife Emma and two daughters, Daisy and Flora.

Good Friday 2018 was a very special day when Daisy won a pony race at Cheltenham; the race was sponsored by Kim and the picture of Kim presenting the trophy is very proudly displayed at home!

Emma is secretary for Oliver Sherwood and for a few minutes on April Fools day last month when Kim “announced” his merger with Oliver, I panicked that Emma may lose her job or would she have to travel to Withington every day – as I always look forward to Kim’s April Fool, I should have known better!

Thanks Kim for keeping us amused on a daily basis! Let’s hope life starts getting back to normal, or a new normal as soon as possible. Stay safe everyone.'

Thanks for the contruibution Richard.. With no Goffs Sales this week I will be missing out on seeing your father and his horses.

Todays non virus video nasty.