19th March 2018

Waking up to 3 inches of snow yesterday morning was not what anyone wanted. Thankfully, it started to thaw yesterday and has all but gone. Let's hope the sun starts to shine and we get some feel good weather on the horse’s backs.

Once we had cleared the yard and roads to the gallop all our horses had typical, routine Monday morning canters. Mondays come around far too quickly.

Equus Amadeus and Coningsby are fine after their runs on Saturday.

There seems to be a few topics of conversation bouncing around after Cheltenham.

The Irish domination – I see no problem with it, the English need to up their game.

RSPCA – in 99% of cases racehorses are kept in 5 star hotels getting the best of everything. As an industry we have a responsibility to prevent fatalities as best we can. However, the RSPCA ought to get their own house in order before passing comment and concentrate on the neglected animals up and down the country. You only have to scroll Facebook to find a case of the RSPCA doing nothing about reports of neglected animals.

Whip use – I think the jockeys have been amazing on this front over the last 12 months or more but believe there is an argument for, if you break the rules you lose. A center forward can’t score a goal if he’s offside etc etc etc.