Saturday 2 January

Well 2016 has started with results at opposing ends of the spectrum! Yesterday we travelled to Fakenham with hristmas Twenty. Making his handicap debut in what looked like a winnable race, and upped in trip, we travelled with high hopes. CT travelled well as well, and took all the prelims in his stride. Tom Cannon was in the saddle and all was going great until he started to lose ground as they went back through their point of departure. Tom, rightly pulling him up before going out on the final circuit. On the face of it a disappointing effort, and we were all down in the mouth - it looked like CT had decided that it wasn't a work day, but on arrival home last night, he was showing signs of having burst a blood vessel, so there are very mitigating circumstances. Stuart will deal with this new curve ball he has thrown us and he is sure to get him back to his best. Today we went south to Sandown, with very few hopes of troubling the judge - the complete opposite to yesterday, but Sneaking Budge had other ideas. There looked to be two of the four runners that were capable of finishing ahead of him, so the plan was to hack away, teach him to settle and race properly and pick up any crumbs that fell our way. SB did it in style. Settling better in this small field in third he tracked the two at the head of the market, and cruising into second between the last two flights, he took it up in the last and won it nicely by 5 lengths. He relished the ground, and the stiff test, and has done it well. We will look for a similar race for him in 3-4 weeks. Shares available - so look sharp, they will surely not be about for long!! Cloonacool will head to Ludlow on Monday! Lets hope he can do the business there!!