Bailey's Blog

Plus 6 and drizzling when driving in. We have had an unexpected 2mm of water land here this morning.

Another good, solid run from Connells Cross yesterday, finishing third in the mares’ novice hurdle at Newbury. She is a very likeable mare with a great attitude.

Dropping back 3 furlongs to two miles probably didn’t make much difference, although I think she’ll be slightly better when she goes further. The ground was good to soft, which was perfectly acceptable, and I thought she ran another really good race.

I watched her race with John Dewen while eating some very good devilled kidneys in the Sherborne Arms!

Racing continues to find ways to help itself..God spare us! More racecourses are struggling, and the BHA are doing their utmost to help by adding races to various meetings next week. We’re all hoping the rain arrives soon.

Racing also received a predictable hammer blow yesterday when Betfred chairman and co-founder Fred Done announced that he was severing all sponsorship ties with the five Classics. He had warned that this would happen if the Budget brought an increase in betting taxes and duties, and he has stuck to his word. Whatever your view, losing sponsorship on that scale is certainly not good news for racing.

We have one runner today at Fontwell. I am heading there to saddle So You Know and for our thoughts please click here.

"Building slow destroyers! One might as well breed slow race horses.'' Winston again!

Plus 7 and dry when driving in.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many owners at Chepstow as there were yesterday..about 400, apparently. The owners’ and trainers’ tent was heaving. They ran out of food, they ran out of glasses, but the staff tried their hardest. Everybody smiled and was helpful, which makes a huge difference.

We had plenty to smile about ourselves, because Double Ten ran considerably better than we had expected.

I thought it was a really competitive novice hurdle, and he ran an absolute blinder to finish fourth. For a moment, I thought we might even pinch third.

Double Ten won an Irish point-to-point, although it would be fair to say it wasn’t the world’s greatest. We liked him when we saw him last November at the Cheltenham Tattersalls sales as an individual, but you never quite know what you’ve got until you get them onto a racecourse. Well, on yesterday’s evidence, he looks a very nice horse. If he can build on that, we’ve certainly got something to look forward to.

It was also good to see Cornelius Lysaght sponsoring the Lysaght Cup Novice Handicap Chase in memory of his family. There was a lovely photograph of his father and grandfather in the racecard, and the family resemblance was unmistakable.

Well done to Cornelius for sponsoring the race, with a splendid cup presented to the winner. Sadly, we didn’t have a runner, but I’m sure he was absolutely delighted that Cathy Williams's trained horse won it.

Thursday morning and Mat set off early to walk Sandown racecourse. We hope to run White Noise there on Sunday, but we are understandly worried about the ground..

John Dewen was here late morning to see his horse That'll Be Oxo who annoyingly is bed bound with a bruised foot.. Thankfully John's beloved Arsenal won last night!

Mat returns from Sandown via Newbury where we run Connells Cross. For our thoughts on her chances please click here.

Our new family member 'Jackson' will hear his first fireworks later.. I hope he can cope.. Dogs and fireworks are never a great match!

'The difference between humans and animals is that animals never allow a fool to lead the pack'.. Winston Churchill..

Plus 6 and dry when driving in.

Our first winner at Warwick of the season. Always good to be back there.

Court In A Storm..

It had every right to go wrong yesterday. Standing in the paddock with John and Laura Garrett, I told them that the ground was absolutely perfect for Court In A Storm, before adding that these were the biggest fences he had ever jumped. Their faces dropped a mile, and Peter Kerr promptly gave me a bollocking for saying it.

When he nearly fell at the first, I did wonder whether I should have kept my mouth shut. He slipped going into it, and a shadow just in front of the fence didn’t help. The combination wasn’t great, and Ciaran did unbelievably well to stay on board. Our hearts were in our mouths.

He wasn’t terribly convincing at the second or third either but then got his act together and jumped really well..until the third last, where Dan Skelton’s horse fell in front of him and stopped us in our tracks. He certainly wasn’t having the easiest passage....Thankfully, he found his stride again, jumped the last upsides in front and went on to win by a length and a half. Quite a performance after everything that had happened.

Court In A Storm has now won five races from fourteen starts. 

Manchester United last night.. relief! 3-2 against Roma..

Wednesday morning brought in Ciaran Gethings and Tom Bellamy.

My word..Its all happening in America this morning... Mid term elections..

Also here were Paul and Elizabeth Kellar to see their latest homebred to be in training here.

We have one runer today at Chepstow. Double Ten heads there and for our thoughts on his chances please click here.

To finish.. Happy birthday to my equal favourite niece.. Clover Savage (nee Wootton)

Plus 7 and dry when driving in.

Southwell did a great job on their ground to make it good. The two horses we ran, ran well.. Law Of Supply was second, while Jetzet finished 3rd in what looked a way above standard for a novice hurdle at Southwell.

Stuart Ballntyne kindly sorted tickets for Harry Enflield last night in Oxford.. Packed and very amusing

Goffs horses in training sales yesterday.. Record top price to go jumping.

Tuesday morning and a couple out on an away day.

Melbourne Cup..Point Of Law who used to be owned by The King and Queen wn the Melbourne Cup.

Peter Smith was here third lot to see his KBRS horses Mattys Getaway, Hidden Mountain, The Poets Word 3 year old Gelding and Double Ten.

We have our usual Tuesday vet visit and this week’s movers and shakers in the BHA handicap charts were..Gatineau Park up 8 to 138, Lully Du Houx up 6 to 106, I Spy A Diva came down 2 to 114.

We have one runner today at Warwick. I am heading there to saddle Court In A Storm and for our thoughts on his chances please click here

Below are a few of Harry Enfileds thoughts..

Language is my playground, words are my toys.

Laughter is the best medicine, and I aim to be the pharmacist.

Comedy is a way to explore the absurdities of life and find joy in them.

Life is too short to take seriously, so I choose to see the funny side.

Behind every joke, there is a truth waiting to be uncovered.

Humor allows us to tackle difficult topics in a light-hearted manner.

If you can make someone laugh, you've given them a moment of happiness.

Laughter is contagious, it spreads joy and positivity.

A good joke can make even the darkest moments a little brighter.

Plus 4 and dry when driving in.

A winner at Worcester to round off the weekend.. Hidden Mountain was really impressive in his novice hurdle.

We hoped he would win, and he certainly did it in style. What the race amounts to, time will tell, but it was the manner of his performance that was so exciting.. This smashing horse is another Peter Kerr run KBRS.. The apltly named 'Social Climbers' who are Phil and Gill Andrews, Robert and Nicola Baillie, Stuart and Lucy Ballantyne, Nick and Shan Cook, Alan and Sally  James, Tony Pryce, Peter and Elizabeth Smith and Geri Worcester..

High Tea (Best Turned out) also ran well to finish fifth and was probably unlucky not to finish closer, having been badly hampered on landing after the first in the home straight.

Jukebox King,(Best turned out) I have to say, behaved very badly at the start, exactly as he did first time out last year. He effectively lost his race before it had even begun, so I think we can write that one off. Unfortunately, it amounted to little more than a racecourse gallop, but no harm done, and he should come on hugely for the run.

Good to see ex jockey Jim Crowley at Worcester,.. he was there for the pony racing.. his son was riding.. It is always good to see familiar racing faces supporting it. Pony racing has become such a wonderful starting point, and so many of the sons and daughters taking part go on to achieve great things.

At Ascot on Saturday, Brendas Asking ran an absolute stormer to finish fifth, just outside the prize money. Her owners David Carey, Neil Adams and Nigel Hall certainly seemed to make the most of their day judging by the photographs arriving throughout the evening, the racing was merely the start of a very long weekend!

Over in America, it wasn’t a bad Breeders’ Cup weekend for the Brits, although perhaps there weren’t quite as many winners as they had hoped for.

Yet again, Aidan O’Brien came up trumps with Benvenuto Cellini in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. And, as usual, he made sure that everybody remotely connected with the success was thanked and congratulated personally. The list seemed to go on forever. He even mentioned his grandchildren at the end, which I think was a first!

The man is an absolute genius. You cannot help but admire everything he achieves, and the way he goes about it. Quite how he does it, I have no idea.

Closer to home, Archie and I took Mrs B out for dinner at The Old Butchers in Stow to celebrate her birthday.. TOB is a favourite haunt of ours, and we as usual enjoyed a very good supper..

All in all, a good weekend. and all of yesterdays runners are OK this morning.

Racing whether it be flat or Motor. Both sports have remarkable young 20 years as champions. Billy Loghrane on the flat and now Kimi Antonelli in the world of motor racings Formula One.. Both record breakers and both so similar in their enthusiasm and public appeal.

Monday morning and another dry week ahead.

We have two runners today at Southwell.. Mat heads there to saddle Law Of Supply and Jetzet head there and for our thoughts please click here.

Harry Enflield tonight

Plus 10 and dry when driving in.

Thorougbid sales yesterday late morning. Finger on the button for this online sale.. we bought lot 7 a winning Irish point to pointer called Salvadorhill who is very closely related to our good hurdler Younevercall..

I have bought Salvadorhill on spec.. but I feel that Peter Kerr will have no problem syndicating him..for more information on Salvadorhill please ring Peter on 07901763643 or email him on peter@kimbaileyracing.com

The last horse that came through Thoroughbid was John Perriss's very promising young hurdler Hilberry Hill.

Did you watch any of the Breeders Cup races last night. If you did not then you miseed Billy 'The Kid' Loughnane win on George Boughey's Libertango.. Last minute switch of riders as Billy had to lose 3lbs in the sauna to ride her.. They won.

If that was not enough .. The genius that is Aiden O'Brien almost went one better when his Sun Goddess won..

Having cost only £120,000 as a yearling, Sun Goddes cemented her status as the standout filly of this year's juvenile crop with a dominant performance, although jockey Ryan Moore insisted afterwards that “we didn’t see the best of her”.

The filly was making her ninth start of the season and achieved the rare feat of winning four Group 1s as a juvenile, becoming the first to do so since Johannesburg ticked off the same achievement at the Breeders' Cup for Coolmore and Aidan O’Brien in 2001.

Tom Bellamy, Ciaran Gethings and Johnny Burke were in to ride out.

We have Phillip Gill, Emily Whybrow, Joshua Kerr, David Thompson, Tara Thompson and Sophie Thompson here for a morning on the gallops followed by breakfast.. excellent breakfast too!

We have one runner today at Ascot.. Brendas Asking heads there and for our thoughts on her chances please click here.

We also have three runners tomorrow at Worcester. Jukebox King, High Tea and Hidden Mountain and for our thoughts please click here.

The last of day of the South Africa v Australia Test and it is set up to be a cracker..

Big day in our household as it is Mrs B's birthday..

Have a great weekend and we will see you on Monday..

Plus 11 foggy but dry when driving in.

Two winners yesterday!!

Don’t we just love a surprise?

We went into yesterday’s racing hoping that Gatineau Park would provide our 50th winner for the 'Kim Bailey and Mat Nicholls' partnership. But Lully Du Houx got there first!

Quite honestly, none of us particularly fancied Lully. He hadn’t run especially well first time out, and we also thought he might not handle the ground. We knew it wasn’t the strongest race, but even so, his win came as a bit of a surprise. Mind you, it’s the sort of surprise we’re always happy to have!

It was a huge boost for his owners, John and Laura Garrett, whose other horse, Feel No Fear, also ran a very encouraging race.

FNF looked as though he was going to play a major part jumping the second last, before getting very tired. Plenty to be pleased about from Ffos Las.

I was at Stratford, where I was a bit of a nervous wreck watching my favourite horse Gatineau Park make his debut over fences. It wasn’t an ideal racecourse or an ideal race for him, but we went there because of the ground. In fact, all our horses went to their respective meetings yesterday because of the ground; soft ground has been rather hard to find.

I needn’t have worried. Dear 'young' Gatineau jumped off in front with his ears pricked, jumped brilliantly and won by six or seven lengths.

It was a very welcome winner for Tom Bellamy, who has been off for two months with what you might call a whole chapter of breakages! I was delighted for him, and for the Peter Kerr's run KBRS owners Park Life, who are the lucky owners of Gatineau Park.. They were there in force to celebrate.

Also thanks to Aiden Murphy who I bought GP with at January Tattersalls Cheltenham sales in 2025

Finally well done to our head girl Erika Creed for her first double, and secondly to Alwena Johns, who looks after Gatineau Park and led him up. Alwena also looks after Lully Du Houx, so she had two winners to choose from, but decided to come with me in the horsebox. Lucky girl, she treats GP as her baby!

A great day all round, and we now have 51 winners for the partnership... Thanks to Neil Duggan for some of the photos from Stratford

The Tattersalls horses in training sales have ended 

Friday morning and we have our usual vet visit... No runners today

Breeders Cup starts tonight.. worth watching. and we won the cricket but still come home, or rather head to Australia..

To finish the day.. Some good news for the likes of me!

People with ADHD and dyslexia now qualify for a disabled rail card, entitling them to a third off usual ticket prices, after the scheme’s eligibility rules were widened. 

I am dyslexit as you can see from my speling!

Plus 11, foggy and dry when driving in.

Budget..Racings finances have not escaped..But it could have been so much worse?

British racing's finances will incur "significant damage" following chancellor of the exchequer John Healey's decision to raise machine games duty (MGD) in Wednesday's budget, the BHA has warned.

The increase from 20 per cent to 25 per cent was not as large as feared but could still result in half of Britain's betting shops closing their doors over the next four years and the loss of £57 million in levy and media rights payments for racing, according to industry analyst Regulus Partners.

Running a business.. Costs will go up and that will probably come from all sides as wages rise in April 2027..

The Australian trainers spending big in Newmarket. Tattersalls Horses in training sales.

We have three runners today.

Mat heads to Ffos Las to saddle Feel No Fear and Lully Du Houx while I head to Stratford to saddle Gatineau Park who will be Tom Bellamy's first ride back after his fall at Worcester on August 23rd..  For our thoughts on their chances please click here.

Sri Lanka win toss and put En gland in to bat in their last ODI of the tri series..

Looking for somewhere to stay for Chepstow races next week?.. Peter Kerr knows the owner Martin Mount of The Swan House tea rooms .. staying here comes recommended.

Some of you will remember Spike Milligan..His quote..

'I contacted Alun Owen in Eire and asked him what the tax advantages would be if I became domiciled in Dublin.

None. He said  'What you save on tax you spend on drink’

Plus 8 and dry when driving in.. We have had a couple of mm of rain in the last 24 hours, but that looks like the lot for a while!

A day when racing and probably all employers are holding their breath.. .. Budget Day..

Bangor has a wonderful knack of making sure owners go home happy, even when things don’t quite go to plan.

John and Penny Perriss were very pleased with their mare I Spy A Diva yesterday, and rightly so. She finished fifth, and will improve for the run, and we were all very happy with her performance. But the praise didn’t stop there. They reckoned the beef was as good as they had ever eaten, let alone on a racecourse. Between their horse running well and the excellent beef, they went home very contented indeed.

Bangor is unbelievably good at looking after owners and making sure they leave in the right frame of mind. Many congratulations to them again. I know I say it every time we have a runner there, but they deserve it. I’ve now reached the stage where I never worry about sending owners to Bangor because I know they’ll enjoy themselves. That’s not something you can say about many racecourses.

I wasn’t there myself yesterday. Instead, I was at home entertaining my daughter-in-law India, who is over from Sydney for a fortnight. It was lovely to see her and catch up on all the news, especially the very exciting news that she and Harry are expecting a baby early in the new year.

Then my daughter Pandora arrived with her four children, and chaos reigned. Things were broken, dogs barked..Yes Jackson had a field day..you name it, it happened.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, although I suspect Bangor might have been the quieter option!

South Africa v Australia.. Third Test..

England are out of their 50-over tri-series in Pakistan after the hosts were beaten by Sri Lanka on Tuesday in Lahore.

Day 2 of the Horses in Training sales in Newmarket.. Tattersalls.

Wednesday morning brought in Tom Bellamy and Ciaran Gethings to ride out.

We jumped Jetzet, Hidden Mountain and Brendas Asking. 

Louis, Conny, Alexander and Charlotte McCauley were here for a morning on the gallops followed by breakfast.

John Wright was here for a first visit to Thorndale.

We have no runners today.

Weather and Runners?? 

High-profile fixtures at Exeter and Wincanton on November 6 and 7 have been moved to Aintree due to unraceable ground at the West Country venues. 

The BetMGM Haldon Gold Cup fixture and the Badger Beers Chase meeting, which were set to take place as part of the West Country Weekend, have been rescheduled for the same dates at Aintree, with £555,000 in prize-money on offer across the two days.

Ludlow has lost its third meeting too..all because of lack of rain and hard ground.

Job applications.. We have had a few recently and some really odd ones.. But this is so true..

The closest to perfection a person ever comes is when they fill out a job application form!

Happy birthday to Mark Hudson..

Plus 11 and dry when driving in. 15mm of rain for us over the last 24 hours.

We did not run Jetzet at Hereford yesterday.. We declared (24 hours before the race day) on Saturday when the ground was described as good to firm, good in places with a forecast of up to 40mm over the following 24 hours.. .. that did not arrive on the racecourse although it did everywhere else!.. Shame..When in doubt pull out.

Tom Bellamy passed his fitness test yesterday and is now fit to ride as from Thursday.. That is some performance considering his injuries..

Being Tuesday, we had our usual vet visit and this week’s movers and shakers in the BHA handicap charts were Island Bridge down 2 to 114, Sogna In Grande down 3 to 125 while Moon Rocket goes down 2 to 130.

Hannah Caven was here third lot to see their KBRS horses Gatineau Park and Mybluesuedshoes.

Plenty of twitter or X thoughts on Constitution Hill.. Most about retiring him.. He ran bloody well in Italy so why retire him.. he is enjoying his life. NJH will make the right call when the time comes.

The big Horses In Training sale started in Newmarket yesterday. Tattersalls hosted the sale which goes on until Thursday.

Archie had me watching the Ballon d'Or last night. Many of the names meant little to me although Harry Kane certainly did.. First Brit to win since Michael Owen..

We have one runner today at Bangor. I Spy A Diva heads there and for our thoughts please click here.

Mat is heading to Wales while we have my daughter in law calling in. India is over from Sydney for a few days and called in to see us and bring us all up to date with her news. Daughter Pandora also was over with my grandchildren. Family time indeed.

Life is all about enjoying yourself, and as you know, I love my fishing. So you can imagine how delighted I am that Mortimer and Whitehouse are back with more fishing exploits. Series nine started on Sunday.. Plenty of laughter, wonderful scenery and the occasional fish. I can certainly relate to the first two… 

My thoughts..

The best fishing trips had nothing to do with the fish..

Most of the gear you bought, you never needed

The people you fish with matter more that the river

You remember the trips not the numbers?.. Thats the easy one!