Bailey's Blog

Plus 11 and dry when driving in.

Shock.. 10mm of rain landed here in half an hour late yesterday morning.

It was very dry and warm for last nights National Racehorse week visit.

Relaxed and casual.. good chats as we walked through the barns and then, as the day before, we jumpd two horses.

Two fun evenings and hopefully all who came along enjoyed.. a good insight to what happens in a racing yard... Good to see some old faces.. including Maurice and Pim Greenaway..who along with others joined in on Jukebox King...

Emma Raducanu was on fire last night.. through to the third round of the US Open.

Jack Draper is out of the US Open.. Injury problems

Cameron Norrie books his spot in the third round and a meeting with four-time US Open champion Novak Djokovic;

Not often, but occasionally when Archie is at home.. we watched Manchester United play Grimsby.. Oh dear!

Goffs started the UK based yearling sales yesterday.. Good results ..

Thursday morning..

Good to see an old mate this morning .. Sally Bruce called in for a coffee while passing... The visit cost her a share, or rephrase it I suggested and hopefully persuaded that she joined the Racing Club and buy a share in Jukebox King.. Hopefully she will.

The old boys are leaving us.. Geoff Lewis.. Famous for riding Mill Reef to win the Derby and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe has died aged 89. A brilliant jockey and went on to train nearly 550 winers on the falt.. Geoff was a great ambassador for our sport.

A brave move, but on the face out it the right one for Dan and Claire Kubler..off to Bahrain..

A wife's eulogy at her husband's funeral:

"Norman needed a blood transfusion, but his blood type was not on record, so the doctors asked me if I knew what it was.

They urgently needed to know, to save Norman's life. Tragically, I had never known his blood type, so I only had time to sit and say goodbye.

I'll never forget how supportive my Norman was. Even as he was fading away, he kept on whispering to me, "Be positive,be positive, be positive!"

That was my Norman! Always thinking of others."

Plus 14 and dry when driving.

Fifty people braved the gusts this afternoon for our first of two days of National Racecourse Week open days.

It was one of those very warm blustery afternoons where you half expect to see the tea bags blow away (they did), but everyone arrived smiling and in good spirits. Mrs B and Leigh were on duty with the essentials... tea, coffee, and a steady supply of biscuits before I gave a quick welcome chat.

Mat and I then took our visitors on a good wander around the yard, and it was lovely to be able to give everyone proper time and answer plenty of questions. To round things off, we schooled a couple of horses over hurdles, which always makes for a bit of a thrill.

Hopefully everyone left with a smile, leaving a  few crumbs in the biscuit tin, and a real sense of how much hard work goes on behind the scene, and of couse just how well looked after our horses are.

US Open news..

'Helpless' Kartal among four Brits to exit.

Jacob Fearnley overcame nerves in the big moments - and a heckler - to secure the first US Open main-draw win of his career.

Wednesday morning brought Ciaran Gethings in to ride out.

Vince Burmingham was here with Lindsey Lewis and her daughter Millie Wood to see his KBRS horses Campaign Trail, Does He Know, Marsiac and Name Me Nicely.

Nick Cook was also here to see his KBRS horses Campaign Trail, El Rio, Marsiac and Moon Rocket.

John and Laura Garrett called in to see their Park View horses..Jeudidee, High Tea, Court In A Storm, Lully Du Houx and their KBRS horses...

Emma Raducanu takes on Indonesian star Janice Tjen later

Todays order of play

Day 2 of the National Racehorse Week for us this afternoon.

After all the talking and answering questions my throat will be dry and those who know me will understand a Bloody Mary goes down well..

This made me smile..

"Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

Philosophy, is wondering if a Bloody Mary counts as a smoothie!?

To finish.. Molly our PA has rightly already featured here quite a bit this week, but today is her birthday..

Plus 17 and dry when driving in.

If that really was the last day of summer yesterday it certainly went out with a blast.. 30 degrees.

Karen Masters who is involved in the KBRS horses Isle Of Gold and Does He Know was here second lot with her neice Francesca who is on work experience following our vet around..

Tuesday vet visit.

Movers and shakers in this weeks BHA handicap charts were Gerard Mentor down 2 to 81 and Mikhailovich up 2 to 107..

Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie made it through the first rounds of the US Open

Day one of National Racehorse Week for us this afternoon..

4pm for a chat and coffee followed by Mat and I touring the yard talking about the horses.. evening stables.. One horse will jump to give a bit of excitement..

We have had large crowds before, but we have now settled for 50.. far more intimate and hopefully more interesting for those who come along… I have to say that 2 years ago we had far too many people and I bored them for so long that one passed out and needed medical care.. Not again!

A young woman boarded her flight and took her seat — right beside an elderly man dressed in worn, weathered clothes. Within seconds, she raised her hand for the flight attendant.

With a polite smile, the attendant approached.

"Please find me another seat immediately," the woman snapped. "I can’t sit next to this worthless old bum. You have to do something."

The man said nothing. His tired eyes spoke volumes. The flight attendant, maintaining her composure, replied gently: "I’m sorry, Ma’am, but the economy cabin is completely full. Let me speak with the Captain."

She made her way to the cockpit and explained the situation. After a moment, the Captain gave a soft smile and said, "This is a first. But I think I know exactly what to do."

Moments later, the attendant returned and made an announcement to the cabin:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has approved a seat in First Class for one of our passengers. He also offers his sincere apologies for the discomfort of having to sit near someone so unkind."

The woman smugly began to stand.

But the attendant turned to the elderly man. "Sir, would you kindly follow me?" she said, with a gentle smile.

The cabin erupted in applause...Because kindness always has a seat in First Class — and sometimes, justice does too.

Plus 10 and dry when driving in.

Is this the last day of summer?. I think it will be tomorrow!.. I have not worn a jersey since the beginning of May..

Molly certainly didn’t let us down at the Jockey Club RoR National Championships. She pulled it out of the bag and won the Tattersalls RoR Novice Show Horse Series 2025 Championship Final, the Tattersalls RoR Amateur Ridden Show Horse Special 2025 Championship Final and then went back into the Supreme Final, against all the champions of the evening and won the Tattersalls Retraining Of Racehorses Showing Series Supreme Championship 2025 on her horse Not A Present. What an extraordinary performance. Huge congratulations Molly..

Another local girl did well over the weekend. Laura Collett won the first Scone Palace International Horse trials

Tommy Fleetwood held his nerve to win the Tour Championship and finally claim a first PGA Tour title at the 164th time of asking.

On Saturday at York the biggest flat handicap of the year went to Willie Mullins and Ethical Diamond.. in fact, the first three places were filled by Irish trainers..

The US tennis Open started yesterday..Emma Raducanu won through to the second round.. We now have 2 weeks of top action.. Who will be the big winners?

Cricket..Confused by the Hundred.. The last rounds this week.. The finals at Lord's on Sunday

Andoversford yesterday was full of village fun.. dogs shows etc

Bank holiday Monday.

Bruce Raymond, the Group 1-winning jockey turned racing manager to the likes of this week's City of York-winning owner Saeed Suhail, has died of cancer at the age of 82.

We have a couple of visits this morning..

Richard Fabian and daughter Rachel plus Eva and Jo were here to see his KBRS horses Does He Know, Isle Of Gold and So You Know.

Jake and Talia Vanags called in for a first visit to Thorndale.. They are staying locally in Foxcote and asked for a tour..

National Racehorse Week is here again.. we open our doors tomorrow and on Wednesday..

To finish.. Happy Birthday to Laura Greenall.. Johnny and Laura own and run the hugely popular  award winning Duncombe Arms.....

Plus 14 and dry when driving in.

I am a big fan of Jay Rahman's restuarants and last night we tried out his latest restuarant .Jai Ho It was good, and noisey, but not an easy drive ..

Ciaran Gething was in to ride out. 

Saturday is as usual our chance to catch up on videos for owners so they can see how their horses  are looking and what they are doing

Talking of owners, Joe Goldring, one of our KBRS owners was here with his family third lot to see his horse, Parc d’Amour. 

Pd'A was meant to have run at Newton Abbot earlier this week, but his scope wasn’t quite as clean as we’d hoped, so we had to sit that one out. With luck, he’ll be back in action before long.

Ascot Gold Cup winner Trawlerman won a hard fought battle with his stable mate to win the Longsdale Cup at York

Australia's Asfoora surged clear to win the Nunthorpe Stakes on day three of the Ebor meeting at York.

The Womens Rugby World Cup started well for the English Rosies when they trashed the USA last night in from of 42,000 people at the Stadium of Light.

Bank holiday weekends are full of racing and other sports and of course if you live in the country village fetes.. Andoversford have a fun day planned for tomorrow.

A woman is in need of a root canal, but her dentist is on vacation, so the office sends her to another dentist across town.

When she arrives, she notices the dentist’s name on the door. “Hmmm”, she says to herself, “I went to school with a guy by that name. I wonder if it’s him”.

They seat her in the dentist’s chair and the dentist comes in. The woman says to herself, “No, this can’t be the same guy. This guy would be my age, and the dentist is all old and wrinkled and bent over. He’s bald and has thick glasses. It can’t be him”.

The dentist methodically does the root canal and tells the woman to make an appointment for a week later to have a crown fitted.

The woman prepares to get up out of the chair but , she turns and says, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t going to ask, but I just have to: Are you from town here?”

“Yep”, he replies, “I’m from town, born and bred”.

“Did you go to high school here?”, the woman asks.

“Yes, as a matter of fact I did”, the dentist answers.

“Oh really”, says the woman, “What year did you graduate?”

The dentist tells her and the woman exclaims, “Oh my God! You WERE in my class!”

The dentist leans in close to the woman, pulls his glasses down his nose and peers over them, concentrating on the woman’s face and says, “Really? What did you teach?”

On that note..The weather looks set fair for a fantastic Bank Holiday weekend, so I hope you all enjoy it..Have a good one and I look forward to catching up again on Monday.

Plus 7 and dry when driving in.

Firstly some better news..Tom Bellmay went home last night..All OK bar his broken ribs!! Bloody uncomfortable.. poor chap. Speedy recovery Tom..

Molly, our PA, left late last night on a mission, not to type my diary or keep us organised, but to drive her horse, Not At Present, all the way up to Aintree. 

Apparently, my paperwork can wait when there are rosettes to be won, although she says that she is taking her laptop with her..

Molly is competing in the Jockey Club Retraining of Racehorses National Championships which is Great Britain’s biggest equestrian competition solely for former racehorses.

It’s a seriously big deal, with 341 horses entered, who, between them they earned over £11.7 million in prize money when racing.

Now they’re out to show off their new talents of dressage, arena eventing, showjumping, and showing.. makes a change from galloping full tilt on a racecourse.

The show, which started on Tuesday runs for six days, finishing with a grand finale on Sunday, and it’s a wonderful showcase of what ex-racehorses can turn their hoof to.

A few familiar names taking part including Nanette Sellers’s Undercover Lover and Mr Beatle, both of her horses will be ridden by Megan Harper.. Megan rides all our breakers when with Martin Jones..

Events like this are a brilliant advert for the industry. They prove that life after racing isn’t just a pipe dream; it’s very much alive and kicking (sometimes literally).

For them, it’s also a bit like a school reunion for these ex-warriors although most have added on a few pounds and have slightly portly waistlines here and there, and of course the odd flash of mischief in the eye reminding us of their past.

So good luck to Molly and Not At Present. Let’s hope she remembers to bring back a rosette or two… and maybe even get back to the office before I drown in emails!

On all of the above.. Mrs B works tirelessly rehoming our horses when they come to the end of their racing life, and on that note Shantou Express set off yesterday for a new life of fun, now that his racing days are over.

Another big winner for Aiden O’Brien at York yesterday. His Minnie Hauk won the Yorkshire Oaks..This was Aiden’s 9th Yorkshire Oaks which equals Sir Michael Stoute’s record.

Friday morning..

John and Penny Perriss were here third lot to see their horses.. Penny’s Coolanna and John’s Home Made Hero, I Spy A Diva, Island Bridge, Top Target, White Noise and his homebred Telescope gelding out of Mollys A Diva.

After it was a visit to Martin Jones to see John's homebred Logician gelding being broken in..

The Womens Rugby World Cup starts tonight when .. The Red Roses..England take on the USA 

Ronald Reagan and Bob Hope

Plus 13 and dry when driving in.

The nights have certainly drawn in and the mornings are now dark when arising from my bed..

'Wonderful' Worcester..

Credit where it’s due: I’ve never been Worcester’s biggest fan, and I’ve certainly had my say about their summer ground in the past. But yesterday, hats off, the ground was the best I’ve seen all summer. A proper covering of grass, good ground throughout. They should be rightly pleased with what they produced and we trainers should be thankful too.

Our two runners did us proud. Gerard Mentor ran his best race of the season to finish sixth, not beaten far.. a big step forward and clearly much happier with a bit of juice underfoot and back over fences. He galloped right to the line, and there’s definitely still a race in him before he moves on to a new career.

As for Mikhailovich, after 432 days off the track, he came back with a bang to finish second. It was brave run, full of promise and while frustrating to be runner-up, I couldn’t have been more delighted with him. His KBRS owners were thrilled and their horse came back bouncing, even if a shade tired, and all told, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening's racing with a healthy crowd to boot.

Ombudsman rerighted the Eclipse form at York in a race when the pacemaker again nearly ruined the day!

A good day for Julie and David Martin who have been long standing supporters of ours.. Their Trefor won the first at York yesterday

Keely Hodgkinson said she was "a bit in shock" at her victorious return from injury after the Olympic 800m champion recorded her second win in five days at the Diamond League in Lausanne.

Out of the ground..

20 years ago we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope and Steve Jobs.

Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs

Please don't let Kevin Bacon die.

To finish.. Mark Laws sent me this..

Plus 14 and dry when driving in.

Ciaran Gethings was in to ride out.. Poor Tom is sidelined and remained in hospital last night.. for observation..

Paul and Elizabeth Kellar were here second lot to see Faerie Cutlass.

Karen Masters was here third lot to see her KBRS horses Does He Know and Isle Of Gold, while Garry and Tracy Betley were also here to see their KBRS horse Phantom Getaway.

It seems I’ve been living under a rock when it comes to Bank Holidays.

All my life I’ve assumed the August Bank Holiday is safely parked at the end of the month, and then suddenly people tell me it’s this weekend. Cue panic. I’ve been organising life, horses, vets, the lot around the following Monday, only for the vet to ring up cheerfully and announce, “Sorry, it’s a Bank Holiday, I’m not working” when I asked him to vet a horse for me this weekend.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the August Bank Holiday are the last Monday of the month (this year the 25th). But in Scotland, they insist on going early and have theirs on the first Monday in August (this year the 4th). So while we’re still hard at it, they’ve already had their lie-in and their barbecue.

So no, the Bank Holiday hasn’t moved at all, it’s just that the Scots couldn’t wait. And the rest of us are left scratching our heads, diaries in a muddle, and wondering yet again why life can’t be just a little bit more straightforward.

Rather like racing, really..you study the form, make a plan, line everything up and then your runner decides to plant himself at the start. Bank Holidays, it turns out, are much the same: never quite where you expect them to be. No wonder we trainers occasionally need a stiff drink!

Talking drink..

We have a couple of runners tonght at 'wonderful' Worcester.. Gerard Mentor and Mikhailovich head there and for our thoughts please click here.

Ascot of the North.. York races.. Their big 4 day meeting starts today.. A must visit..

US Open.. Light hearted and fun tennis to watch last night.. Emma and Carlos!

So bad were John Disney's jokes that I came uip with this..

“The Bank Holiday is like a dodgy handicapper, turns up when it wants, leaves you scratching your head, and somehow you always feel you’ve been done out of a day’s work.”

Finally this will make you smile?

Plus 17 and dry when driving in.

Stratford was very busy, which was a surprise for a Monday.. Jump racing back?

There was a real sense of anticipation for Faerie Cutlass yesterday now that she was back over hurdles after her unseat over fences last time, but clearly she hadn’t read the script.

For reasons best known to herself, she decided to slam on the brakes at the very first and promptly deposited poor Tom Bellamy on the turf. Quite why, nobody knows.. she’s normally a very good jumper, who jumped 9 hurdles well only on Saturday morning.

To say we were shocked would be an understatement, and poor Elizabeth Kellar, FC's owner, looked as bewildered as the rest of us.

Not the sort of day any of us had in mind, and we all trudged home feeling rather flat.

As for Tom, he’s sporting a nasty cut above his right eye and 4 broken ribs.. poor chap spent the night in hospital.

I listened to Sir Bob Cooper's podcasts on the way back from the races to cheer me up.

Last night I settled down to watch the much anticipated Cincinnati Open final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.. and that went like the rest of the day.. Jannick Sinner retired when 5-0 down in the first set.

Tuesday morning 

Racing only hits the BBC news when something goes wrong..

Our usual vet visit.

I headed to near Hereford first thing to see a horse, while Mat along with Peter entertained KBRS owners Alan James, Paul Higgs and Paul Martin.

John Disney again..

A man is in the bathroom and his wife shouts "did you find the shampoo?"

He answers: "Yes but I'm not sure what to do... it's for dry hair and I just wet mine."

Plus 16 and dry when driving in.

Racing Unites: No Races on September 10th in Protest Against Tax Threat

For once, the word “strike” doesn’t do it justice. September 10th will be a day of unprecedented unity as the racing world comes together to close ranks. pausing racing for a day to make a stand.

The target is the proposed racing tax, which threatens jobs, welfare, and the very fabric of the sport. Like farmers before us, we are determined to show the government that this policy is badly misguided.

Of course, outside the racing world, few may notice. We live in a bubble, where our world feels monumental, and to us, it is. But for those beyond it, racing may barely register... The public look upon racing like farmers.. Rich.. The sport of kings.. Both for farmers and for racing the average owner/farmer is small and when it comes to racing most become involved for fun and many through syndicates.

Nonetheless, we have to make our point. On September 10th, there will be no racing in the country. How the Government responds remains to be seen.

Monday morning and as you would expect some very fresh horses. I have to say that I have never seen our horses look so well at this time of year. Although they were short of grass duiring the summer they did not get wet or cold so their coats look great and the condition they returned with has stayed on.

We have a runner this afternoon at Stratford. Faerie Cutlass runs there and for our thoughts please click here.

John Disney who kindly asked me to lunch on Saturday told me this one..

A man shouts frantically into the phone "My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only 2 minutes apart!"

Is this her first child?" asks the doctor.

"No!" he shouts, "this is her husband!".

To finish.. Happy birthday to my neice Patience Jackson-Stops.