We Finally Got There!

After a slow and sometimes frustrating time of things from the start of the new year we finally got our first winner with Lovely Touch doing the business at Wetherby on the 4th of April. He was a very satisfying horse to win with as he has had his fair share of problems over the years and a lot of credit must go to Adam Nicol who gave him a superb ride on the day. This weekend he holds two entries and will run at one of his two engagements provided the ground is safe, the handicapper gave him 11lb for winning which will make things much tougher from now on.

Since my last blog we have struggled with the health of a lot of our horses through the season and combined with the terrible ground we've had to endure on the racetracks it's made for some real tough months not only for me but for all my staff. Everyone behind the scenes works extremely hard in sometimes pretty foul weather conditions and It's amazing what that winner can do to boost the morale for the whole team, I just hope the next isn't too far away! I feel very privileged to be able to train for such wonderful owners who in testing times have all been very patient and supportive of me and my future plans for their horses in the yard. I've been told there have been a lot of yards go down with bugs during this winter and when you have 100 horses it's not so bad but when you are starting out like I am you are relying on every horse staying healthy through the season which in reality doesn't happen very often, some say that the mild weather is to blame, but all in all it's been a huge learning curve and has at least taught me how to be patient!

We have had plenty of runners and most of ours have been crying out for better ground, as we have quite a few younger types I'm really looking forward to next season when they will be that bit older, bigger and stronger. From the desperate ground we've been faced with during this winter it hasn't taken long before it's gone the other way and I'm now faced with the problem of finding good safe jumping ground, who'd be a National Hunt Trainer!.

We have plenty of runners over the weekend to look forward to and I hope it won't be long before we bang our next winner in to the winners enclosure and I hope to be reporting back early next week with such news!