Bailey's Blog

Plus  and dry when driving in.

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

We jumped Hidden Mountain, The Kemble Brewery, Feel No Fear, Jetzet and Gambling Echo.

Guests this morning for a morning on the gallops and breakfast were Julia Tolerton, Peter Tolerton, Christine Tolerton, Lewis Chard..then Leslie Smith, Glynis Cox, Richard Claridge, Alastair and Stephanie Chambers were here from The Nelson Trust auction prize...  

Racing today.... Ascot Qatar Champions Day.. Brilliant racing.. Celebrations for a fabulous summer and a new champion jockey.. Billy The Kid as the BBC featured him...We will be watching.. not only the wonderful racing but looking out for the hurdle and chase course.. they race there over hurdles and fences in 2 weeks time?

Hottest ticket in Town......The Everest......Shock result as Ka Ying Rising’s remarkable winning streak came to an end in this mornings $20 million (£10.5m) The TAB Everest when Australia’s sprinting star Tempted reversed last year’s placings.

I know you’ve all been itching to hear how I got on with my fishing trip this week. Well, it was rather like a good day at Ascot: thoroughly enjoyable, but I came home without a winner. Or, in this case, a salmon. I didn’t even touch one... Simon Claisse caight a whopper at 22lbs while James Mayhew and Rosa Weaver both caught fish, so not a blank few days!

Despite my lack of fish, they were four wonderfully enjoyable days. I simply love my fishing, and standing on the riverbank or in a boat watching Otters, Beavers, Kingfishers and all the other little creatures going about their business was a pleasure in itself. A fabulous part of the world, whether the fish chose to cooperate or not.

Anyway, that’s my season done. Thirty-six days in the last 2 seasons without a salmon. You have to admire my persistence, if nothing else!!...Roll on next year.

''Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and he’ll spend a fortune standing in a river, trying to outwit something with a brain the size of a pea.”.. Although I am not sure pea brain is the right description!

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

Plus 6 and drizzling when driving in, we had 7mm overnight. Weather looks like it's going to be back to a normal temperature for October now... yesterday was so warm and full of midges, it's bizarre!

We are continuing to tick the horses over, the ones with targets are stepping up their work a bit but we need more of this rain! 

Mark in for our usual vet visit today, a few horses are having gastroscopes whilst others are starting to get their flu vaccinations done ... now that racehorses have to be vaccinated every six months, they all have one booster when they are on their summer holidays meaning the next booster is due in November / December. It's a case of scheduling them around race plans... luckily we are organised but it can be tricky!!

Kim back with you tomorrow morning to update you on his fishing trip, hopefully he caught a fish this time!

Plus 16 and windy this morning.

Yesterday we recieved the news that Charly and Kiaran had their baby girl 'Elsie Elizabeth Thomas' on Tuesday just before midnight. Charly and I were texting yesterday morning and she said she was home and in bed by 6am Wednesday morning!!! Quite phenomenal, we would expect nothing less from Charly... I joked she would be back in time to feed the horses their breakfast. Huge congratulations to Charly and Kieran.

As the weather changes, the horses start to get a bit of a fluffy coat and so the mammoth job of clipping begins.. always a sign that proper jumps racing is on its way when the clippers come out!

Mat is on the panel to speak at the Hollow Bottom's 'Mark Your Card' preview dinner on Thursday 12th November ahead of the Paddy Power meeting at Cheltenham. Ticket are £45pp to include a 4-course meal, and £10 per ticket being donated to Stamp Out Suicide. Tickets can be bought here.

Plus 9 and dry when driving into the Office. Ciarán and Tom in to ride out today. 

We have our new updated camera system being installed this morning.... hopefully I can remember all of the places where Kim told me to put them up!

Robert and Nicola Bailey were in second lot to see their KBRS horses Hidden Mountain, Marsiac, Double Ten and Gatineau Park. 

Steve and Chris Adams called in third lot to see us too. 

I've got my last dressage competition this evening with Sea Of Fortune before our Regional Finals on Saturday where I will try and qualify both him and Not At Present for the National Championships at Aintree next summer... haven't learn my tests yet so better get practising!

We have received details of The Swindon Sports Quiz which is being run for the 34th time this year. The beneficiaries this year are The Injured Jockeys Fund and Swindon Parkinson's Group. If you would like to take part, and I am sure they would be delighted to hear from you, the details are in the photos. 

Plus 16 and drizzling this morning. About 2mm of rain in the last 24 hours. 

Kim is away finishing in Scotland so you're stuck with me for the week!

Mat decided yesterday having spoken to Worcester that the ground had gone too quick and so we didn't want to risk our winter horses. Little did we know it was going to rain all afternoon!! Oh dear, we have all winter and it's a long season ahead so no rush!

Movers and shakers in the BHA handicap chart are .....Court in a storm up 2 to 118, Draco Malfoy down 2 to 119, Grey Sands dropped 2 to 50, Guchen also down 2 to 120, Lully Du Houx down 2 to 100, Reallyntruthfully down 2 to 120, Step Ahead down 1 to 121. 

Mark in for our usual vet visit today. 

News yesterday that Final Demand has been disqualified from the Brown Advisory which he finished 2nd in at the Cheltenham Festival back in March, having tested positive for Mepivacaine... a local anaesthetic commonly used in thoroughbreds. Willie has been fined £1100 and Cheltenham has also been fined £5,000 for not having any CCTV footage of the Irish yard! 

Attention is turning to British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday, with £4.35 million in prize money on offer across the card (sadly no runners for us!!)The battle for the trainers’ championship between Andrew Balding and Aidan O’Brien could be decided, with less than £75,000 separating the pair. Balding is chasing his first title, while O’Brien is looking to secure a third consecutive championship. Although it would be an amazing feat for Aidan to win 4 in a row, it would be brilliant for Andrew and to keep the title this side of the channel...time shall tell!

Plus 6 and dry when waking in Perth..

Well, that was a good weekend.

Matty’s Getaway was hugely impressive in the DragonBet Handicap Hurdle—the rest of the title is in Welsh, and I won’t attempt that! He absolutely demolished the opposition. All rather too easy, really, and as Mat said on television interview with Matt Chapman, his handicap mark is probably buggered! Personally I felt the race rather fell apart.Time will tell?

Delighted for his syndicate The Getaway Drivers and for Peter Kerr, whose hard work putting these partnerships together makes such a difference. Without Peter and our syndicates, horses like Matty wouldn’t have found a home here.

Connell’s Cross also ran a really encouraging race to finish third in the first race.We weren’t terribly sure what to expect, but she loved the ground and jumped very well until a mistake at the second last slightly frightened her. She then ducked about at the last, which cost her second place, but there was plenty to like about her performance.

Chepstow Saturday.. Reallynthruthfully ran well to finish 4th carrying all that weight.. The downside was and will be that Aamilah hit the horse too often and likely to be banned for probably about 3 weeks!.. we will know more tomorrow?

We have two runners today at Worcester. Washington Parks and Island Bridge head there and for our thoughts on their chances please click here.

Mat heads to Worcester to saddle our two runners today, while I have driven up to Scotland to spend the next four days standing in the River Tay at Islamouth, trying to catch that elusive salmon.

Thirty days’ fishing over the last year and a half without catching one… surely that run has to end sometime? If I add another four blank days, I might be tempted to do the fishing equivalent of a frustrated golfer and snap my rods over my knee!.. The last 4 days of the season..

Anyway, fishing with David and James Mayhew and Simon Claisse should provide plenty of entertainment. My last chance of the year to find out whether I have any salmon-attracting pheromones whatsoever!

I told Mrs B that my fishing is so bad that perhaps I'd should start selling mugs.

Long pause.

"Well," she said, "Start by looking in the mirror..There's one who keeps paying to catch nothing!'

Plus 9 and dry when driving in. A good shower of rain here yesterday afternoon..4mm..

Chepstow..The same report can be used for Lully Du Houx, Step Ahead and Guchen.. All will improve hugely for yesterdays run.

Kempton. Grey Sands ran a better race to finish 5th.

Saturday morning..

Tom Bellamy and Ciaran Gethings were in to ride out. We jumped So You Know, White Noise, Brendas Asking, Hillberry Hill, Hidden Mountain, Moon Rocket, I Spy A Diva, Feel No Fear and Marsiac.

Stella Dubock and Lori Dyer were here for a morning on the gallops and breakfast as a result of a dinner held for Parkinson Charity at Cirencester Golf Course..They were joined by John and Meryl King who were here to see their KBRS horse Mybluesuedeshoes.

We have one runner today at Chepstow and two tomorrow at the same venue.

Reallynthruthfully heads there today, while Connells Cross and Matty’s Getaway head there tomorrow.. For our thoughts, please click here.

Racing Posts thoughts on the weeks sales in Newmarket

Australia struggling against South Africa in their first test.. Kingsmead Durban

Sad to say that Hilary Fitzsimon, the breeder of Wild Goose died earlier this week..  A wonderful lady who thankfully was able to see her horse win last week at Southwell... 

Have a great weekend and see you on Monday..

To finish.. Happy birthday to Martin Jones, who breaks in all our young horses, and to our hard working travelling Head Girl.. Leigh Pollard

Plus 15 and dry when driving in.

Hey Ho..Another winner.. Court In A Storm.. the horse, not the weather.. won his race at Market Rasen yesterday... and Leigh and CIAS won best turned out to boot!

A jolly day all round yesterday. The journey down to Devon couldn’t have been easier. More of Birdlip Hill is now open, although one side of the carriageway remains closed, and I travelled along the new stretch of road for the first time. An extraordinary piece of engineering.. but be warned it is often shut over the weekends

Lovely to see Sandra Steer-Fowler and her horses at Jess Westwood’s. They all looked unbelievably well, and we had a long chat about plans, with plenty to look forward to. Especially good to see my old friend Trelawne looking so happy and well. A very enjoyable and exciting morning in a particularly beautiful part of this country.

From there, I went to near Taunton to see John Wood, who is 95, heading for 96. We spent a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours discussing racing, the people he knows and his thoughts on them. John remains wonderfully opinionated!

I arrived back at Thorndale just in time to watch Court In A Storm win at Market Rasen. What better way to finish the day? Good old Ciaran Gethings has now ridden him three times and won all three out of CIAS's total of 4 wins. 

CIAS jumped brilliantly and showed no loss of confidence following his recent fall at Worcester. The form of that Worcester race looked pretty good, so this was a very pleasing win.

Market Rasen might be a long way away, but it has been a good course for us, and they always look after us well. John and Laura Garrett, of Park View Racing, were delighted with their horse. Quite rightly so.

Friday and we have our usual vet visit

We also have 4 runners today. Lully Du Houx, Guchen and Step Ahead head to Chepstow while Grey Sands goes to Kempton on the all weather and for our thoughts please click here.

More high prices at Tattersalls Book 1..what a few days they have had as far as big prices go, but I wonder about the rest of the sale?

I will find out more this evening as Harry Bailey, who is over from Sydney for the sale, is staying tonight before he heads back to Sydney tomorrow..

Plus 4 and dry when driving in. A jersey on for the first time since May.. Colder this am

The rain forecasted for Worcester yesterday seemed slow to arrive, so Mat went off early to walk the course and decide whether the ground was safe enough for Draco Malfoy to run. Thankfully, it was.

Kevin Clancy was here, and I had rather assumed Mat would stay for the racing while Kevin and I enjoyed a bit of lunch. Then Mat rang to say he was absolutely soaked, wearing jeans and wellies and certainly not dressed for an afternoon’s racing, so he was coming home.

That rather changed the plans. Kevin headed home, I headed to Worcester, and lunch went by the wayside. Still, it was good go to Worcester even if neither of Draco's owners were going.

It was good decent jumping ground at Worcester yesterday, which caught out quite a few of the summer horses.

What can I tell you about Draco Malfoy? Disappointed? No, although I thought he would finish closer. The first two flew out of the gate, and everybody rather expected them to come back. They didn’t, which probably sums up what was a funny old race to watch.

There were still plenty of positives. Draco jumped soundly and will have learned a great deal and he has had a race which is more than  most of our horses will until we have had enough rain. We knew beforehand that 2 and 1/2 miles was too sharp for him and that three miles would suit him better.. he will improve dramatically for the race. We had hoped for a better day, but he certainly hasn’t run badly to finish 4th.

Worcester was a new meeting due to Ludlow being unraceable.. Kempton and Exeter are the latest racemeetings to be abandonned due to the dry ground.

Today we have one runner at Market Rasen. Mat heads there to saddle Court In A Storm and for our thoughst please click here.

I am heading south to Devon and meeting up with Sandra Steer-Fowler at Jess Westwood's pre training yard to see Sandra's horses, including my old mate Trelawne.

More high prices at Tattersalls Book 1.. last day today.

Neil Duggan photos..

Plus 12 and raining when driving in..Lovely rain! 6mm so far.

We took Mrs B's godson Jack Wilson and Maizey Jack out for supper last night at The Stump.... Maizey rides out for us 3 mornings a week. Both are studying at The RAU.

Ciaran Gethings was in to ride out.

We jumped... I Spy A Diva, Mattys Getaway, Hidden Mountain, Reallynthruthfully, Marsiac, Step Ahead, Jetzet, Connells Cross Moon Rocket and Lully Du Houx.

Paul and Elizabeth Kellar were here to say goodbye to Faerie Cutlass. She is heading away from racing and into a new career. FC's sister is due here any day now .. She is currently with Martin Jones.

Kevin Clancy was here third lot to see his May We Never Be Found Out partnerships's two horses Manaa Lises and Five Aces.

Fireworks on day one of the Tattersalls Book 1 yearling sales..Day 2..

England cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over the Czech Republic in the Nations League at Wembley on Tuesday.

Novak Djokovic claimed the 102nd title of his astonishing career as Alex de Minaur retired injured from the China Open final.

We have a runner this afternoon at Worcester. Draco Malfoy starts his chasing career there and for our thoughts on his chances please click here.

On a sad note.. Henry Pelham has died.. Henry was a huge racing supporter and had horses with Josh Gifford and latterly with Paul Nicholls. He was huge fun to be around and was a bloody good sportsman who played cricket to a high standard ..Thoughts to his wife Sarah and their children Sophie, Clare and Charles..Memorial Service at St Mary’s Church, Kilmington at 2 p.m. on Wednesday 21st October,

Jeffrey Bernard famously said..

'What a pity people don't take as much trouble with their own breeding as intelligent racehorse owners do. But then I suppose it is bordering on fascism to think like that?