20th August

Highs and lows today. Firstly the lows - Ogee was scoped in preparation for his run at Fontwell tomorrow, but was unfortunately found to be slightly dirty, so he will have to wait for his next run. A real shame as it would have been nice to qualify him for the Jewson Final which is run at Cheltenham in October. Important Business continues to be a mystery. Ever since he got himself cast a few weeks ago he has been on and off lame and stiff. He has continued gentle exercise under the supervision of Brett the vet but does not seem to be getting any better. Ed was in again today and had another good look at him and although IB is 100% in trot he is still awkward in walk so a few x-rays will be done to try and get to the bottom of things. Well, that's the lows out of the way- the highs include Kikos, who schooled over the chase fences this morning with College Ace and was fantastic, he seems a real natural and is a lot to look forward to. He should be making his debut for The Nick Brown Racing Club, and indeed, his chasing debut in about a month. There are a couple of places left in the Club if you are interested in having a really nice chaser for next season. Rousing Rob continues to go really well, and seems to be a maturing really well, he has certainly grown up from last year, and is another who will be ready to run in about a month, but he does need some cut in the ground and I am willing to bet that after all this rain it will dry up and be quick ground when we want to be running the soft ground horses!! Mattaking was not quite 100% on Saturday and was not entered for Southwell, but he is A1 now and will be entered for Hereford on September 3rd.If anyone wants, or knows anyone that wants a Border Collie pup then please give me a call as Tom Short who has been in a number of Partnerships and currently is part owner of Rousing Rob has a few that will be ready to go at the end of September.