Sunday 11 July

Plenty has happened since the last update. Yauthym was sent off the 1/3 Favourite for her race in Worcester - a ridiculous price - we have no idea how they ended up with her at that price, but there you go! Sadly she ran very flat, and was beaten half way down the back. She did complete in third, but it was certainly not her running. Paddy felt that she was feeling the effects of a long season, which was always our fear - and she is now enjoying a spell in the field, but will be back for some races later in the summer, before the ground goes too soft for her. On the Monday morning we headed out to Ireland for the Derby Sale - the events of that week hardly go down as the greatest - both horses withdrawn from the sale. One remains in Ireland, one is back home, and we did a midnight flit out of the country - only to find out on landing in Stanstead, that the 'bubble' we were in had been rescinded by the Irish Government, and all the UK visitors to the sale were confined to their hotel! - It will be a good chapter in the book! Horses now heading back to trainers and pre trainers. Go Millie Go is back at Fences Farm. Hidden Beauty and Queenohearts are with Jason Maguire. The Mamool 3 yr old and Blue Bikini are with Fergal O'Brien, and Auditioria is back with Olly Murphy. Classic Ben is still at The Elms and will have his second scan in a couple of weeks. The 3 yr old Camelot Filly is also still on her holidays. She is broken and ridden away, and will head back to Jason Maguires in early October to be pre trained before heading to Olly Murphy. Volkovka is also still in the field at Ivy Lodge Farm - she will come in and start work with Maguire next month - and then head back to Fergals. This week we have a busy few days planned - we will be heading down to David Menuisier on Friday to see his yard. David is a lovely guy, who can certainly train! He is very patient with his horses - allowing them time to develop and thrive, and for this reason he excels with the middle distance horses in his care. A filly I purchased earlier this year is in training there, and I look forward to seeing the yard, and meeting the team. Later this year we will be adding another string to our bow, and we will be having our first flat horse in training. David will train, and we already have had several folks put their name down for a share. If you would like an interest in a horse on the flat next summer let me know, and add yourself to the list. We are also heading down to see Fergal and the team and everyone at Ivy Lodge Farm this week, and will also spending a morning with the latest trainer to be added to our roster - more of that later! Recent sales in Deauville and Newmarket - we were unlucky not to get a lovely 2 yr old store out of Deauville, and the Newmarket sale isn't a sale I like to buy out of. We also had our first crack at the online sale platform, but were underbidders on a really outstanding foal in France. We will also be adding a filly/mare to the squad in the very near future for a syndicate in which the majority of the shares are already filled, and as ever we will be getting a juvenile hurdler for the team as well. Our youngstock continue to thrive - with some very exciting pedigree updates. We had planned to sell a couple of weanlings in January, but that sale was put back until August, and in the meantime the pedigrees of the two we were to consign have taken significant improvements, so both will now be retained and offered at 3 - either through the sales ring or syndicated. We were saddened to hear of the sad passing of one current and one former member of the NBR family in recent weeks - our thoughts and condolences are with their family and friends.