Thursday 23 October

Lovely to see John and Sue Spiller down at Fences Farm again yesterday, they were in for two lots and saw their filly Native Princess do a nice piece second lot. Stuart reported that she would need another couple of bits to put her spot on, so was not entered in Worcester next week, she will now have an entry in Warwick at the start of next month. Also out second lot were Sundays intended runners, Benefit Cut and Dawn Commander. Both went really well, and at the time of typing - DC will be ridden by Brendan Powell, and Sam Twiston Davies will reacquaint himself with BC - this could change - but we hope not! Third lot yesterday we saw Cloonacool work well with Smart Exit who also went well, and is also a couple of bits of work off of being race-ready. A grand morning, that took a bit of a dramatic turn when Kiftsgate, retired, and in the field took offence to my dog, Tiger Lily, who, a bit out of character,chased him in the field, and he gave her a really nasty kick to the head. Lots of you will have met Tiger, and I can report that after a very nervy night for us, she has been operated on to fix a badly broken lower jaw, but looks to be on the mend. A huge thankyou to all the girls in the yard that tended her after the accident, and to Libby, who is a local vet and rides out at Fences Farm a couple of times a week, who rushed to the yard on her day off to deal with Tiger, and who's rapid response and action at her practice caused the minimum of suffering to little Tiger. Tiger Lily should be home with us again sometime next week. Yesterdays drama meant I missed the trip to Southwell this afternoon - where Mr Maynard ran well to 'win his race' in the 4.10. Finishing a well beaten second, there was no one going to beat the winner, who responded well to first time visors on handicap debut, Mr Maynard beat everything else in his race, and may now head off on a break unless there is another suitable race on a sound surface.