The two brothers arrived back at Beckhampton at 8.30am yesterday morning having travelled overnight from Amsterdam. The journey from Hong Kong had gone smoothly until some cussed Customs officials at Amsterdam airport delayed them by over 5 hours in a warehouse surrounded by day old chicks, cats, dogs and anything else you can think of, that were awaiting clearance.  Not surprisingly, Bated Breath and Cityscape were a little weary but no doubt pleased to get home to see the first signs of winter snow arriving ! 

Zero Money left Beckhampton at 4 am to travel to Stansted to meet up with a flight to Dubai.  It will be his first venture overseas and I hope that he will be competitive in 5 and 6 furlong handicaps on the turf during their Carnival.

The horses are due to arrive back from Hong Kong in the early hours of Thursday morning having flown with the other European runners to Amsterdam tonight.  They then have a days rest before travelling over land and through the Tunnel to Beckhampton.  I was delighted that Cityscape managed to hang on valiantly for 2nd place in the Hong Kong Mile and in the process earning Juddmonte Farms £360,000. This takes our prize money for the year to 1.4 million and in the process beating our previous best total in 2003 and therefore a record for us. Who knows whether with a better draw for both Cityscape and Bated Breath, they may well have finished even closer.  Steve Raymont reported that they had taken their races well and I was immensely proud of both of them, having had a long and fairly arduous season. Their future plans remain fairly fluid but in the short term, they both deserve a few easy weeks.

Early morning exercise at Sha Tin racecourse, Bated Breath being ridden by Steve Raymont and Cityscape by Uilson De Souza

A photograph taken of the big screen during their exercise

Me and my lookalike, James Fanshawe after the barrier draw and me trying to cover up Bated Breath's unfortunate stall 12

Uilson and Cityscape

Steve and Bated Breath

Cityscape at Sha Tin, Hong Kong

Bated Breath

Morning work went according to schedule this morning in Hong Kong with both horses doing a good strong canter on the all weather track at Sha Tin. It is very exciting to see so many stars and Group 1 winners assembled at the same place and all preparing for the big races on Sunday.  After work this morning, they had the barrier draw and somehow I managed to draw stall 12 (towards the outside) for both horses, which seemed a little unfortunate particularly in the Sprint, but it is fair to say that Rocket Man and Sacred Kingdom who are the two most fancied horses are in fact drawn on the outside of Bated Breath. Both horses seem to be coping well with their new surroundings and are generally very chilled out, as expected.  The weather has been fairly hot and humid, but today it is cooler with a good breeze off the sea and I gather that it is expected to cool further towards the weekend.  The atmosphere is very electric as the horses from so many different countries build up for the big occasion and everybody is doing slightly different things with their horses, it is noticeable that the Japanese horses are doing more vigorous work on the track than for example the Europeans. Fingers crossed that we can continue to keep the horses happy and healthy for the big day.

Cityscape

Steve Raymont reports from Hong Kong that the two half brothers continue to make good progress in recovering from their trip.  They are both adjusting well to their new surroundings, eating well, drinking plenty of water and regaining some of the weight that is naturally lost through air travel.  They have been going out on the all weather track at Sha Tin racecourse and trotting for a circuit before doing a steady canter.  Since their arrival, they are regularly monitored by the excellent resident vets and blood samples are taken on a daily basis together with their weights.  I plan to arrive to see them tomorrow evening before they do a stronger canter on the grass on Thursday morning which will then be followed by a sharper piece of fast work on Friday. Saturday will be an easy day just walking and trotting before the big event on Sunday.  The barrier draws will be revealed on Friday and we can only hope that they are not given a wide draw.

Bated Breath will be taking on some tough and hardened sprinters from Singapore, Ireland, Australia, Japan as well as Hong Kong. Rocket Man is trained in Singapore and has now won 17 of his 22 races and in the process earning 2.7 million pounds. Sacred Kingdom is a local horse and has won 17 of his 32 races, total earnings of 3.5 million pounds. There is also a good four year old filly Curren Chan, who has won her last 4 races in Japan with earnings of nearly 2 million pounds together with several other tough speedsters.  It will also be his first attempt at racing around a right handed bend, having raced left handed at Woodbine on his previous start. 

Cityscape runs in the Hong Kong Mile and will also face some tough opposition. Jimmy Choux is a very good colt from New Zealand who has now won 5 Group 1's in Australia and New Zealand, Beauty Flash is a New Zealand bred gelding but trained by Tony Cruz in Hong Kong and won this race in 2010,  Sahpresa is trained by Rod Collet in France and won this years Sun Chariot Stakes for the 3rd year in a row and more recently was narrowly beaten in a Group 1 in Japan,  and we must not forget Dubawi Gold trained by Richard Hannon who is also a very high class colt.  All in all, both colts are taking on some very formidable opposition and I will be very pleased to get amongst the prize money.

The two brothers Bated Breath and Cityscape had an uneventful but long and tedious trip to Hong Kong having left Beckhampton at 4pm on Friday afternoon and arrived in the quarantine barn at Sha Tin at 11pm (Hong Kong time) on Saturday. Steve Raymont who travelled with the horses reported that they were in good shape, and had eaten and drunk on the flight but naturally tired after such a long journey. They were led out on Sunday for a quiet exercise but this morning they cantered on the racecourse and they were apparently in good form, bright, fresh and enjoying their new surroundings.  I am due to travel to Hong Kong tomorrow which will enable me to see them at "evening stables" on Wednesday and monitor their training during the rest of the week.  Both horses had been given quotes of 10/1 for the respective races which look competitive but we must have good chances of getting amongst their generous prize money.

Bated Breath and Cityscape

Dorrit runs for the second time this afternoon at Lingfield in the 12.40pm a mile maiden race for two year old fillies.  She is unfortunately a very small filly measuring under 15.0 hh but she seems to be tough and genuine and there is plenty of room for improvement after her rather disappointing debut at Wolverhampton recently.  Today will help her owners to decide whether she has a future for them as a racehorse, but I am hoping for some improvement.

Sister Red was sold on Wednesday evening for 15,000 guineas and will start a new life as a brood mare.

The two half brothers, Cityscape and Bated Breath had their final workout yesterday morning on the trial grounds and I was pleased with what I saw.  Bated Breath according to the Subaru (maybe too old to be reliable) achieved a speed of 44 mph at one stage of his gallop. Cityscape worked on his own and his regular rider Uilson De Souza is of the opinion that he is in terrific form, so fingers crossed that their flight to Hong Kong this afternoon is not too long and tedious.

We seem to have very little involvement in the December Sales except that Clowance is due to be sold today in foal to Oasis Dream. She has been added to the Sale since the catalogue was printed and I will be disappointed to see her go should she be sold.  Tomorrow we are selling Sister Red (Ire) Lot 2040  for Michael Pescod,  who is half sister to his Red Badge who won the Select Stakes Gr 3 at Goodwood. She came here from Richard Hannon's yard during the summer but she did not run for us.

Bated Breath and Cityscape continue their preparation for travelling to Hong Kong on Friday afternoon with Steve Raymont. Yesterday they passed their inspection from the BHA vet and tomorrow they are due to have nasal swabs for flu etc.

Definightly ran a fair race to be beaten a little over a length for third place but his jockey reported that being drawn 4 was against him. The winner, Eton Rifles drawn 14 was impressive having raced down the stand rails and Fred Lalloupet in stall 9 was second having previously finished upsides Definightly in their race at Maisons-Laffitte recently.  Holiday time for Definightly and we will look forward to his return in 2012.

Slightly to my surprise I thought  Mac Love ran a really encouraging race at the ripe old age of 10, he stayed on well in the closing stages to run up to a mark in the high 90's. His 76th race and  beaten less than two lengths by the winner, what a ''star''.  He may run again in a condition race at Wolverhampton on 2nd December as long as he remains in good and happy form.

Definightly has just arrived at Fontainebleau and Alan Knight my traveling head lad reported that he was very fresh this morning and eating well. There are 18 runners and he's drawn 4 (not thought to be a good draw by Thierry Thulliez) and the ground is soft which should be to his liking. His main opponents are:-  Clairvoyance who won the race last year,  Eton Rifles won a Listed race at the Curragh in October,  Mariol won a Listed race on the course in October,  Fred Lalloupet beat Definightly a short-head for second last time out at Maisons Laffitte and Le Valentin was a neck behind Definightly in the Prix Du Meautry Group 3 at Deauville in August when they finished 2nd and 3rd to Marchand D'Or. Definightly has now won 6 of his 22 races for total earnings of £125,000.