Monday 9 February

This mornings veterinary report was, once again very positive. Cloonacool has had another comfortable night, and has walked out sound this morning - which I think has surprised the team there, as he is on no pain killers ( as Stuart said -'he is one tough cookie'). They will continue to monitor his progress which involves talking a small sample of fluid form the injured tendon sheath and testing it to see if there is any infection. They will also continue to locally treat the area of the wound with antibiotics to avoid infection, which remains a high risk. All in all things continue to progress well, and he should be home by the end if the week!! While watching some excellent racing from Leopardstown and Exeter yesterday I decided to run a little competition on Twitter - the winner gets a personal stable tour, and a morning on the gallops watching the horses work - The winner of the draw is Jane Bartlett, and I will be making contact with her today to arrange a convenient time for her to come and collect her prize! Talking of Leopardstown, AP McCoy showed us, in winning the big Grade 1 Hennessey Gold Cup, why we are going to miss him so much. His announcement of his retirement took us all a bit by surprise, but I think everyone agrees it is the right time. AP has been a fantastic ambassador for racing, and will, no doubt, continue to be so. We will miss seeing him as a jockey - but should still be very thankful that we can count on him to be a figurehead of our great sport in the future. As Ruby Walsh said yesterday - 'no need to be sad - he's not died!' We wish him well with whatever he decides to do!