Monday 5 November

A return to normality after travelling up and down the country over the course of the last few days! San Telm kicked things of with a gutsy win in Haydock on Wednesday - he has come out of the race in good order and will now bw aimed at a 0-140 Intermediate Hurdle on the Sunday of Cheltenhams Open Meeting. Friday Grassfinch headed off to Uttoxeter, and we made the long trip to Wetherby. Grassfinch, back in against her own sex won very nicely. left alone up front, she travelled and jumped really well for Jimmy McCarthy, pulling away after the last for a comfortable 8 length success. She will take a hike in the ratings, and will have to cope with a rise in class, hopefully this diminutive little lady is up to it!! Up in Wetherby, Smart Exit ran in the 2m 6f Conditional Jockeys race under Tom Bellamy. We decided to keep things simple and bounce out with him,and Tom rode perfectly to instructions, SE travelled and jumped well, but was cut adrift form 3 horses jumping 2 out. The horses in front of him all came to the race with good cases for being well treated, so to finish fourth behind them was no disgrace. He will come on for the run, and there is a staying hurdle in him. On Saturday it was back up the M1 with Colebrooke. C had disappointed up there before, for reasons that were not his fault, but on Saturday he once again failed to run as well as we had expected. C has been working well at home, and Jamie Moore had made the long trip just to ride him, which we all took as positive, unfortunately the little man was struggling as they turned for home, and plugged on to finish 8th. Jamie thinks he needs to drop a few pounds, which is not a surprise, and a drop back to a stiff 2 miles is on the cards as well. He will win again! Luckily yesterday we did not have to go far, as it was a skip over to Huntingdon with Genny Wren. Genny has been off games with numerous ailments over the last year and a bit and it was a tough task in some considerably rain softened ground after a mornings deluge! Genny ran a blinder finishing 3rd, and the yard are very pleased with her! The good news is that all the runners have gone out this morning and all seem fine after their runs, so we can now start to plan the next wave of runners. A quiet week this week!