16th June 2018

Vivant is fine after her late night out in Aintree, she was outclassed by the winner, any chance she had of finishing second was probably lost by trying to beat the winner. Patrick Atkinson, her owner lives on the Wirral and hadn’t been to Aintree since the stands have been renovated. The girls were out in their finery and an evening at Liverpool is always an eye opener. I struggled to keep my eyes open on the way home given they close every motorway at this time of year. For whatever reason I choose to take on the motorway instead of coming home across country. A big mistake. 

This morning we sat on the horses bought in Goffs last week. We are so spoilt these days with the sales preparation they all receive and life for them and us is considerably easier than it used to be. None appear to have any vices and tonight they and the other babies are in the field. 

Todays rugby match against South Africa was painful to watch, especially the 2^ndhalf. Too many schoolboy errors and bad decision making by our captain. The players lack discipline, television referees have changed the game in the department and shoving someone’s head into the ground or knocking the ball out of the scrum halves hands is needless and costly to the team. The number of games I have seen lost as a result of kicking for the corner when points should be taken is ridiculous. Making the same mistakes over and over again is unbelievable for any team let alone an international one. Opponents need to be put under pressure, one way of doing so is kicking your points when they are there for the taking, England failed to opt for the attempts at goal resulting in SA having a comfort blanket of an 8pt lead for most of the match. I have faith in Eddie Jones and believe, he if anyone, can get us back on track.  

The yard was tarmaced yesterday, now all I need is to gravel up around the edges just to add the finishing touches. No more dust in the summer and mud in the winter. Just a very big hole in my pocket.