IT’S the lull before the storm in Kingsclere at the moment.
We’ve only had a handful of runners this week as we start to get our string in shape for for Glorious Goodwood the week after next.
It’s enabled me to take a bit of a deep breath and recharge the batteries a little bit.
Things have been a little more relaxed for the whole team which is needed to keep everyone — not just the horses — fresh and ready for a big second half of the season.
The downside of having a quiet week is I’ve been subjected to watching Love Island every night with my three teenage kids.
I must admit, it’s quite embarrassing how quickly you can get hooked on it.
On Monday I was dragged kicking and screaming in front of the telly, but, by Friday, I was the one rounding the kids up at 9pm.
I’ve also binged a bit on Colin From Accounts which is very funny — it’s on iPlayer and well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it.
We are at the midpoint of the season now and, if I was a teacher grading the pupils, I’d say we’re around a B.
Winning the 2,000 Guineas in early May was amazing — but that feels like a very long time ago now.
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Perhaps if The Foxes had won the Belmont Derby rather than finish a slightly unlucky second and Chaldean hadn’t run so poorly in France the other day, maybe we would grade a little higher.
But you judge yourself on the performances of your best horses and, for all it’s the most competitive week of the year, your results at Royal Ascot.
A lot of ours ran well there without getting their heads in front, which was incredibly frustrating given how much emphasis we place on that meeting, but that’s racing and things can turn quickly.
We aren’t the only yard who have had good and bad spells this year — it’s bloody hard to have them firing on all cylinders from the spring right through until the autumn.
I’m feeling pretty positive heading into the second half as we have a lovely bunch of two-year-olds who are just starting to come good, and we’ve a strong team heading to Goodwood where hopefully we can bag a few Group races.
I can tell you Oisin Murphy is raring to go as well after he returned from his recent ban.
It feels like he has been suspended for months, but he has been in riding work and was itching to get back in the saddle.
Hopefully he can keep himself out of trouble with the stewards going forward and we can both kick on over the next couple of months.
Oisin is not far behind William Buick in the championship — 14, I think, the last time I looked — and that will be a race which I reckon will go to the wire.
The Racing League starts up again this week and, for reasons I can’t quite work out, I’ll be involved with Team Scotland. Yeah, I don’t get it either!
I must admit, this will be the third year of the Racing League and I’m yet to be convinced.
You can’t argue with the prize-money — running sub 90-rated horses for that sort of cash is very appealing and the racing is ultra competitive.
But, that aside, I just don’t think it works, and I’ve found some of the over-the-top presenting and forced ‘banter’ pretty tough to watch.
It’s very tough to pick your horse out when the team colours are all so similar and some parts of the production are pretty low-budget.
I’ve always been a fan of the Shergar Cup and I do think there is a place for these sort of events in the season, to mix things up a bit.
They did quite a bit of tweaking last year and maybe they have made a few changes again this year, we will find out at Yarmouth on Thursday night.
If the meetings get big crowds and it’s popular with viewers on TV then great but, if not, maybe it should be reviewed.
I feel similar about the Sunday Series — tremendous money and good intentions, but is a late start on Sunday afternoon really the best time for it?
And I’m not sure the viewing figures have been that great for it.
They are usually quick to say when they are!
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It’s a very quiet day for us today, though we do run a nice debutant called INFINITY BLUE in the opener at Newbury at 1.15.
But in terms of our best chance of the day, I reckon AZTEC EMPIRE (2.25) will make a good fist of it in the two-mile handicap, with Harry Davies taking off a handy 3lb.
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