Sunday 8 February

Late last night the vets at the Donnington Grove practice in Newbury called to say that Cloonacool was up an OK after his op. It is always a worry when a horse has a general anaesthetic, so it was great to hear that our boy was up and well. The operation was also a success. It first appeared that he had merely sliced the skin, but further examination revealed damage to the tendon sheath, which is more serious. This necessitated the surgery, and has been repaired. The best news was that the incision went no further inwards, and he had only inflicted minor bruising to the tendon fibres within the tendon sheath. This was great news, and Cloonacool is expected to make a full recovery. The time scale I was given was a return to work in 8 weeks, which unfortunately rules him out for the rest of the season, but this is incidental - the good news is that he will be 100%, and will be back in the Autumn!! I do feel sorry for Stuart though - we were cunningly engineering a crack at The Imperial Cup, in which, Cloonacool would have stood a massive chance, which would have put Stuarts training career properly on the map, but it is not to be - and we will just have to work on another plan!! Thanks to the veterinary team at Donnington Grove who have been excellent throughout - Cloonacool will remain in their care for the best part of the week, and he could not be in better hands. Please stay tuned to these pages for further news as and when I have it!