Thursday 14 November

Classic Ben and the rest of the runners in Bangor yesterday needed their water wings - as they splashed through standing water on parts of the track. Ciaran says it was as bad as he has ever ridden on, but CB ran a lovely race to be 4th. He had to run, to blow the cobwebs away before going to Sandown next month, and he ran really well. He was beaten just over 8 lengths - 1/4 length off of third, with the first and second having the benefit of a run this autumn, which will have stood them in good stead in those conditions. He has come out of the race in good form, and we can look forward to his next outing. Land League ran another good race on Tuesday to be third in Huntingdon. With blinkers applied he travelled and jumped well, but having to set off in pursuit of the runaway leader and eventual winner, he cost himself second. Amazing that the stewards felt the need to have Ciaran and Micheal Nolan in to ask them if they felt they had made enough of an effort to win the race - I sometimes wonder what they are thinking - to anyone who has an ounce of knowledge of racing, surely it was obvious to see what had occurred! Land League seems fine after the run, and will be out again in 3-4 weeks. One that looks less likely to run this weekend is Molly Childers. The heady mix of amateur jockeys and ground that is already heavy in places in Cheltenham was enough to put us off of that engagement, and very heavy ground in Uttoxeter on Saturday is also unappealing at present. She could go to a mares handicap hurdle in Ascot on the 23rd. Go Millie Go is well, and the next aim with her will be to qualify her for the finals of the mares series which are run in the spring. She is likely to head to Ludlow in mid December. Blue Bikini continues to really please everyone that has had anything to do with her - can't wait to see her make her debut in the new year - she looks a smart prospect for sure! It has been tough going at the sales this week in Ireland - with everything we fancied making too much money - there are plenty more opportunities to by over the course of the next few weeks, and we will have all of our orders filled for our investment syndicates by the end of January for sure.