26th December 2016

Todays trip to Sedgefield was a stark reminder of how hard this game can be. Driving a lorry home without the horse you took for the day is as bad as it gets. Sadly, Hagstone got injured and was destroyed. Hagstone had come a long way in a relatively short period of time. Everyone here played their part with his education. He had finally learnt to relax and take racing in his stride, his run at Sandown, giving plenty of weight to those in front of him was very encouraging, he was still work in progress and had started to fill his frame. Losing any horse capable of winning races, at any level, is a big blow to a small operation. The lads and I spend more time with the horses than we do our families, it is always tough to deal with days like today.

Tomorrow we will pick ourselves up and head to Kempton with New Member, he is up in class, will love the track, the ground and is in good heart.

Thistlecrack was breathtaking.