With only a handful of runners over the past few days it was a good opportunity to escape for a short break, albeit one that was planned many months back when a friends kindly invited us to join them at their home in France for a "quiet weekend in the country".  The few horses who have gone to post in our absence were mostly two year olds running  in nurseries, showing us the way forward in terms of how good they really are and what to head for next with them. Beaumaris showed that she really is way over handicapped and should be dropped in grade considerably. Lady Caprice who had previously managed to win at Catterick with first time headgear on didnt quite get things right this time when, outpaced early before the eventual winner cannoned into her. She had to regain her composure and get back in to her stride, and when Roysten went for the whip, she went sideways hitting the rail and from then on it was game over. On a positive note Roysten liked her and thinks she can go on again in the right race with the right set of circumstances. Chevanagh ran a blinder from an outside draw at Hamilton last night to finish fourth and is heading in the right direction.

In the meantime our "quiet weekend in the country" has descended into one hilarious moment followed by another, punctuated with long lunches, longer evenings, a houseful of eighteen noisy guests, swimming, overly competitive games of tennis, boules, golf, archery, and clay pigeon shooting (I hit two clays and definitely should not take the sport up as a hobby). While at the fancy dress party last night with an American cowboy theme, three of us saloon girls, re-enacted the Follie Bergere, providing light entertainment when doing our own version of the cancan compete with cartwheels. Home tomorrow...... to rest.

From early morning it was clear the day wasn't going to be entirely straightforward. Former jockey, turned agent Sashi Righton called to say Pat Cosgrave, booked rider for Eloquent Island had cried off his remaining two rides at Redcar due to "sickness" and we needed to find a replacement. What a stroke of luck though for Pat, his "falling ill" on the same day as his main employers horse was a non runner was well timed and meant he did not have to let his boss down. With Bajan businessman Peter Odle, the horses majority owner making the effort to get to Redcar along with his other part owner Jim Pak, we had hoped the boy would build on his decent racecourse debut and go close. Dave Nolan stepped in to ride him en-route to Leicester for our other two runners this evening but we were not destined to go close after all when the colt slipped exiting the stalls and almost went down. Finishing mid - division, he probably did well under the circumstances. The lazy boy Goodfellows Quest ran on, and will improve hugely for the race but will need at least another run to sharpen his act up, while Zenella ran unexpectedly "flat" at Goodwood. Over at Leicester Jessie Spirit, the highly strung daughter of Clodovil kept her head in exactly the right place and ran out a convincing winner of the fillies maiden under an extremely kind ride from David Nolan who struggled to pull her up ( a good sign) . Bilko Pak could have made it  a double, but once again finished second. We chose not to put in a claim for him and wish his new connections the best of luck with him. Since buying him for only sixteen hundred pounds at Doncaster sales in April he has won just short of three grand prize money and has been sold tonight for seven thousand pounds. All in all MPR have done very well out of him and the money will, more than likely be put towards another yearling for Middleham Park. No runners tomorrow but a fun day in the paddocks for this weeks runners.

Smart Violetta failed to stay the mile and a half at Beverley this afternoon but she did travel well for most of her race proving that she really is getting to grips with this racing game. At home Indieslad's owners called in to see their boy working out and Dale prepared Zenella for her long journey to Goodwood this afternoon, the physio came in to treat ten horses including tomorrows runners. The results from the blood samples taken yesterday arrived by email with a bit of time taken to discuss them with our blood expert in Ireland. All looked good with only a few small observations made. Tomorrow we send out five runners to three different meetings, at Redcar we run our lovely American bred colt "Elusive Island" who bids to build on his promising Hamilton run, where he finished third. Goodfellows Quest runs In the same race, making his racecourse debut but this gelded son of Intikhab will need the race, a bit lazy at home and slow to learn, he is not as likely as his owners previous horse "Alaskan Spirit" to be making a winning debut. At Goodwood Zenella runs in the seven furlong classified race and would appreciate any rain. Ridden by Franny Norton who can definitely have as many handbags as he wants if she wins for him. At Leicester's evening meeting,  the "difficult" and fussy filly Jessies Spirit makes her debut and Bilko Pak runs in the seller where some effort could  see him win for us, after a consistent string of places. The only thing missing for tomorrows busy day is a turbo charged helicopter to get me to Redcar for the first, Goodwood for the second last and Leicester for the first two. Think the training fees might need to go up........considerably.

There might not have been any runners today but it was busy nevertheless. Zenella had her final short piece of work before heading off to Goodwood tomorrow for her race on Wednesday, Jimmy Bleasdale was the man on board putting her through her paces while George rode a two year old colt alongside her who happened to go pretty well, although as expected not quite as easily as his work partner, Zenella. The majority of the horses all cantered with one lot going out on the roads. Simon Stirk pays a routine visit every Monday so at the crack of dawn I took half  a dozen blood samples ready for him to collect and send to the lab for testing. It is really important to take bloods at the same time for comparison purposes and when horses are quiet, relaxed and completely free of stress. Otherwise you get a false reading that is misleading. Simon had a busy morning, castrating two colts, examining three lame horses, scoping one and removing dressing's and stitches from another. Our box driver thought he might have a day off but was brought it to collect a new type of shavings bedding made the the company currently enjoying world domination on the roads with their massive fleet of highly polished, individually named, articulated lorries. As racehorse owners they could soon be enjoying  a similar level of domination and when you watch racing on any channel they have been quick to take advantage of a previously untapped market place. In what must be the most Impressive and cleverly thought out advertising campaign ever seen in horse racing, by making use of the small but neat billboards that are in fact jockeys backsides.

Smart Violetta will try to follow up last weeks win at Hamilton when lining up again tomorrow at Beverely. This time she steps up into unknown territory by racing over one mile four furlongs. We can only assume she will stay, her big brother certainly did when he won three on the bounce for us over an extended mile and a half.

Smart Violetta gets up to win at Hamilton recently.

On Friday, Taro Tywod made a highly satisfactory debut at Thirsk, Saturday was not so good with Maria Medecis failing to put in any kind of run at York. Unable (or unwilling) to travel from the stalls she looked decidedly unhappy and returned home "in season". Missing York thanks to two runners at Newcastle, I made my way North up the A1 to join the record crowds attending the races. It felt like the entire Geordie population had turned out with numbers approaching thirty thousand. Newcastle's track looked in amazing condition after heavy downpours earlier in the week, and they dealt with the massive invasion of two legged racegoers as well as the four legged ones, incredibly well. Allegri, a big, raw, backward frame of a horse had his second run, confirming his weakness and the need for an immediate reduction in male hormones currently invading his system, he will be gelded tomorrow. Regimental was unable to make it four wins in  a row but remains a progressive horse. The day could have have been worse, as it was for Frankie Dettori and Rewilding, the horse broke his leg giving Frankie an horrendous fall at Ascot in the King George and Queen Elizabeth stakes. Rewilding's loss is a sad one and a big one to his connections. Horses like him are few and far between. At Carlisle today our runner with the best chance of winning was Green Warrior but he was declared a non runner thanks to a change in the going, while the two year old colt Malvesi ran green at Pontefract, jumping well enough but unable to go the early pace, he found himself out of contention but stayed on, refusing to call it a day as many do in that situation. At home, family and future family gathered for the weekend and despite never meeting our future daughter in laws parents before, it was clear they were going to fit in at Sun Hill. While I was out on the yard this morning, the team cooked breakfast and while racing at Pontefract today, lunch too was cooked to perfection, (shame they live so far away). George spent the time showing his exemplary grand parenting skills by organising pony rides on Stripey, tractor rides around the fields and showing the grand kids the racehorses, chickens, goats and fish. No runners tomorrow. 

After yesterday's routine workday, our physios spent the afternoon performing their usual weekly routine, treating and relaxing sore muscles. Apart from one lot, the remainder of the horses went for a walk or spent time in paddocks kicking their heels up and enjoying some freedom. I spent the morning going through entries and trying to catch up with those owners I don't seem to have spoken to for a while, but failed miserably when the clock got faster and faster leaving no time - yet again.  Disappearing quickly to attend the twice yearly afternoon meeting, for the Northern region of the National Trainers federation where the agenda included  topics on council elections, tariffs, race planning, the whip review, pay negotiations, and pensions. All before rushing down a packed A1 to attend Doncaster's evening meeting where we ran the Rock Of Gibraltar filly "Iberian Rock" for the first time. A tall, rangy filly who has shown plenty of ability at home but is not exactly a precocious sort, she has always looked like a horse for next year when she fills her frame. A bit of a warm order at home with a fiery temper, we thought she would be a real handful. She was however, extremely quiet in the preliminaries and, missing the break she was unable to get involved in the race at all from her position. Her jockey, Freddie Tylicki had luckily ridden her at Ripon in a workout and had been impressed with her, so he know the filly well enough and reported that she wasnt' the same filly he rode in her work. Hopefully something will come to light in the next couple of days.

Thirsk tomorrow for another, currently unraced filly who can also have a temper, Taro Tywod is owned by the same owners as Tro Nesa, although this filly is a bigger more scopey filly than Tro Nesa was at two years of age and is also  yet to fill her frame.

This morning's work day was more fragmented than usual, with some of the horses working early, while a bunch of two year olds were saved until our visitors from "Go racing in Yorkshire"  arrived for an open day in aid of promoting racing in Yorkshire, while raising funds for the Injured Jockeys Fund. Simon and Jo Mapletoft fronted the morning, and guests enjoyed seeing the horses and our facilities up close, watching some of the youngsters working on the all weather, followed by a session of questions and answer's covering all sorts of racing related topics, all presented by Simon. Radio York arrived to cover the morning, which is indicative of the importance of horseracing in Yorkshire, where it is now known that our racing industry  brings in almost 230 million pounds per year to the local economy.

Below is a brief summary of the report issued recently.

Economic Impact and Employment: an overall assessment

The economic impact of racing in Yorkshire (including non-racing activity) amounts to around £219.8m.  This rises to £228.0m if capital expenditure is included.  Around £187.9m can be regarded as reflecting impact of the racing industry itself.

There are about 2,332 full time equivalent (FTE) jobs in the core racing industry.  Employment in racing supports a further 830 FTE jobs in the region.

At Catterick today, racing was almost abandoned after water was found sitting on the track at the two furlong marker having washed off the public car park. Beaumaris was, according the racecard "harshly treated ahead of her first go in a nursery" and I cannot disagree with their assesment. Flurry of hands ran a blinder, a better draw would have helped her enormously.  Fridays Hamilton winner Tahitian Princess never travelled from the stalls and didn't handle the track, she is happier on a course with less hussle and bustle, and perhaps less bottomless ground. Sharp Shoes was badly in at the weights, but we hoped the soft ground might favour him while hindering the others. The five time winner needs to be dropped in class to help him win again.

After working from five am to nine thirty pm only to discover that the past thirty minutes of writing have been a total waste of time thanks to touching one wrong key on the laptop and wiping off the entire, reasonably well put together piece, the day seems to have got all the more frustrating. It should not be however, as Green Warrior did his job well at Mussellburgh today by winning well and Angelo Poliziano finished  a reasonable third. It was our first winner for Sir Robert Ogden and I am more than delighted to have got the job done. Todays winner almost made up for yesterdays two runners, both of whom had excellent winning chances but both of whom were second.  Tomorrow is the "Go Racing in Yorkshire " open day starting at ten am and we are hoping the morning remains dry before heading off to Catterick with an assortment of runners with a assortment of chances.

The occasional dream about having a Sunday morning lie-in, remains in "dream on territory" so today was' just another day' with six two year olds working at Middleham's High Moor before Swift Encounter travelled to Redcar where he lined up in the maiden in order to make his debut. The gallopers were mostly unraced two year olds although the second placed Flurry of Hands also went along for a change of scenery. She is due to re-appear on Wednesday at Catterick in a nursery where we hope she will go well. Despite being (admittedly) very tired by this time of year, having gone months without a day off, the odd 'quieter' day might have been achieved, but there have been no days off since January, so we are always in need of winners and amusing moments to keep us going. In racing there are always plenty of funny stories to be had, and today an un named Irish jockey who kindly gave up his chance of a lie in this morning to ride work for us, provided a spot of light entertainment. Running late, the said jockey called Jimmy Bleasdale so he could meet and follow him to the High Moor as Jimmy was travelling there with one of our owners. " We will meet you outside Barclays Bank, on the high street, we are in a silver Range Rover" Jimmy announced, to which our jockey said, "great, what colour is it?".

After working horses at Middleham, George brandished the frying pan and produced bacon butties for owners with his usual flair while I was glued to the phone while studying the BHA website on the computer and making declarations and finalising jockey bookings for Tuesdays racing.  Later on at Redcar, Swift Encounter behaved impeccably apart from having a bit of a jig when the jockey climbed aboard and landing heavily in the saddle he got a bit spooked, which is not unusual when they are carrying a one pound dock (saddle ) for the very first time. It feels very strange for them, rather like being ridden bareback. He was quite professional in every way but did look very green and still a bit weak. The race was a particularly warm affair and he ran all the way to the line. He will make a nice horse in time.

Tomorrows runners, Beecheys Beauty and Body Language  both have some sort of chance at Beverley in the evening, it would be good to get a result out of either of them as they have both run their hearts out, going close without actaully winning.

While the whip debate raged on in the studios of At The Races with punter John McRirick  spewing ever increasing amounts of toxic nonsense, it was difficult not to warm to presenter Matt Chapman. A man who is sometimes, by his own admission irritating and argumentative, I was very impressed with him tonight, and to say he has gone up in my estimations would be an understatement. Cool, articulate, interesting and informative, he proved to be a more than capable interviewer and was prepared to show considerable backbone. George, who is taking a close interest in developments was equally impressed with a man who has clearly got a good understanding of the facts and is not afraid to speak his mind with a fair degree of credibility. Something John McRirick seems to lack, in his arguments about the whip.

The whip however it might be used would not have influenced Janets Pearl today at Market Rasen. Although the decision to run her today was quite a last minute one she had, nevertheless jumped very well at home with a succession  of experienced pilots on board including Keith Mercer and Graeme Lee.  But, her jumping practise at home was left well and truly at the yard when she set off for the races today, as she failed to jump one hurdle fluently and was pulled up by jockey Richard Johnson standing in for the injured Graeme Lee. However well they jump at home, going to the races is very different and a hastened preparation is rarely a good thing. At Ripon, Heidi's Delight had her first run in the five furlong maiden, a race that was not our first choice but, with the jockey shortage last night at Pontefract creating havoc we had no choice. Ripon's five furlong race today was both too sharp and the ground too soft. In time she will win races. Malvesi was forced to miss his debut today and transport arrangements  for racing today all had to be changed at the last minute, as our box returned late last night from Hamilton with the exhaust hanging off. Luckily we were able to both make alternative arrangements quickly and get the lorry fixed by this afternoon, ready for tomorrow morning's early gallopers to get to the High Moor for a piece of work, before returning to take Swift Encounter to Redcar for his first experience of racing.

Paul Hanagan returns to the winners enclosure last night on Tahitian Princess.