Saturday 24 January

It was steady away at Fences Farm this morning. First lot pulled out in below zero temperatures that were not forecast, forcing Stuart to go down with his amazing piece of Indian engineering (Tafe Tractor) and work the gallop before they could use it. Ogee did an easy piece as his bloods are still slightly wonky, and he just needs to tick over until he starts to feel better. Icterus (home bred 4 yr old) who would have run in a bumper if the recent ground had been better, worked well with Heebie Jeebie. After breakfast it was good to see Kevin and Jo Hornby, who along with Kate Enright, Michael Dunkley and Daughter Evie braved the freezing temperatures to see their horses do some steady work off the top. As I mentioned last week, most of the string are in easy mode at the moment as the ground at the courses is mostly awful, and we will be patient until it gets better. Unfortunately it is difficult to convey to the horses - who are feeling very fresh and well - that they need to just take things a little easier and there were some stretched arms this morning as the likes of Mattaking and Bobby Gee wanted to go a gear faster than their riders were letting them. (in Bobbys case it was probably 3 gears faster)!! E Major looked well on his work and Kikos did a swinging piece in behind. Both of these boys need better ground - so we will have to wait a bit for them. Third lot saw two babies quicken up for the first time - including Willow Wren - an Alflora half sister to Troglodyte and Rock Wren, out of Mrs Robesons diminutive yet very tough mare Wren Warbler.Both went well. Fourth lot and Michael Kehoe worked some of his Point to Pointers - two of which run tomorrow at Higham. Good Luck!