Friday 12 December

A very early and frosty start today as we headed off to Cheltenham for a day at the races and an evening at the sales. We picked up Alan and Sarah Garratt en route and headed off through frost and snow to Gloucestershire.The day began watching the horses that were to be sold in The Centaur in the evening, breeze up the new polytrack canter along side the home straight. This surface is much better than the old woodchip, and the canter is also about 2 feet wider, without the kink in the middle, so it is a much better environment to show the horses off. I thought it was the best breeze I have ever seen, with a quality catalogue of unraced horses doing some very impressive breezes. Shortly after the breezes were completed racing began, and we had a really good afternoon watching some quality fare. After racing we headed to The Centaur where we met Clive and Maureen France who like Alan and Sarah have a share in Kikos, and along with Stuart and Trish, Michael and Fiona Kehoe and Ivan and Jackie Lawrence enjoyed an OK meal, plenty of wine (Alan) and a good craic. Did not buy a thing but had a really good night, leaving the course at 10pm and getting home at about midnight.