Thursday 28January

They say that it is the early bird that catches the worm, and yesterday was a good example. We were up to Doncaster bright and early, and were shocked by the lack of buyers at the sales. I decided to strike early before the big hitters arrived, and purchased a lovely colt, by Overbury the sire of good horses such as Simon and Ballyfitz. This chap is the full brother to Kealshore Boy, a winner of his first two bumpers before going on to finish second in the Champion Bumper at Aintree. He was then snapped up by Andrea and Graham Wylie for the 'small' sum of 290,000 guineas. He has been campaigned at a pretty high level since moving to Howard Johnsons, but has won over hurdles and fences. He is entered to go at Doncaster and Cheltenham at the weekend, hopefully he will boost the pedigree! The foal I got yesterday was certainly value as I think that if he went through the ring 2 or 3 hours later he would have made 2,000 - 3,000 more, so all in all a good buy (we hope)! This boy will be re-sold as a three year old or syndicated in 2 years time (I will take reservations now!).Last years purchase - a Kayf Tara filly from the family of Grey Shot is looking fabulous, and her younger sister was bought by the top National Hunt bloodstock agent David Minton yesterday, so he obviously likes the pedigree. She will be syndicated in early 2011 (again - you can reserve a place now!) Galoshes was a good second yesterday at Huntingdon, a jolting mistake at the second last possibly costing him a win, but that is far from certain as the winner was 'well in'.But a great result none the less, and hopefully he will have his head in front soon enough. Jardin De Vienne schooled over fences yesterday morning and performed very well - such a difference to the horse that a lot of us saw school first time! He was good when in short and when asked long, so this opens up a lot more opportunities for him! Kikos was seen by the vets yesterday as he has some inflamation in his pastern. X Rays were taken, and although inconclusive at this stage, the opinion seems to be that there is no fracture, it is just an infection that is causing the swelling and discomfort. He has been put on some strong antibiotics which should kick in soon (he does seem better this morning), and he will hopefully be back on the go shortly. They were a month ahead of schedule with him anyway, so a brief hold up will not be the end of the world.