News - Monday 7th January 2008

Hello Everyone and a very belated Happy New Year to you all!

The start of 2008 brought us a nice winner in Turbulance at Folkestone on the 2nd of January. He is owned by Alan Weller,
a great supporter of both this yard and National Hunt racing as
the whole. He has another nice horse with us in Aux Le Bahnn who was unbeaten in his only 2 bumper starts, and we're very much looking forward to him making his debut over hurdles towards the end of the month.

We schooled a nice young horse yesterday for the first time and I have to say that his correct way of jumping and professional approach to the job left me in very good form for the rest of the day, particularly as we had to give him a long rest last season having found he had an intermittant back problem.

Runners at the weekend include Nil Bleu for the Racing Club and
Offemont who, if he's in the right frame of mind and puts his best hoof forward, could win!!

Noel

News - Friday 14th December 2007

We were delighted with Obelix De Longechaux at Taunton yesterday, not only the win, but the way he did it. He won for us
as a 4 year old last season, but he also ejected his jockey on a couple of occasions too, having taken a couple of chances at his
fences. This season he's a lot stronger, he stayed in a nice rhythm and his jumping looked very much more solid yesterday.

We were very disappointed with Mendo's first run over fences at Fontwell on Tuesday. Although I wouldn't call him the most natural jumper in the valley, he's been schooling nicely at home, and I certainly wasn't expecting the mistakes followed by a fall, from which he didnt get up as quickly as I would have liked. He's back at home though with just a few staples in his coronary band which is a blessing.

We had our Yard Christmas Party at The Malt Shovel in Upper Lambourn last Saturday night which went pretty well without incident. In fact the drinks bill gets less and less each year - must be something to do with the younger generation!! We were
honoured with John Ciechanowski as one of our guests. John celebrated his 86th birthday a month or so ago and was still riding out for us 2 or 3 times a week until last season. He has since got over a fairly serious illness and it was a pleasure to see him at the party in the very best of form.

Best Regards
Noel

News - Friday 23rd November 2007

We've had a good week this week thanks to the rain, and have been able to school on the grass for the first time this year.........but then it is only November!!

We have 4 runners out this weekend and hopefully they'll all be placed, particularly Jardin De Vienne who we hope will go one, if not two, better than his 3rd place last time out.

We were delighted with Mendo's win at Cheltenham last Sunday, and thanks to all of you who sent your kind congratulations. It has to be said that Tom Siddall gave him a peach of a ride to land his first Cheltenham winner. Let's hope it's the first of many for him. River City and Commander Kev clearly didn't like the ground, which rapidly deteriorated as the afternoon went on, but they've both come back safe and sound.

Fingers crossed we don't get too much of the frost forecast for tonight as I've got the bit between my teeth now with plenty of entries planned to the end of the year.

Noel

News - Friday 16th November 2007

We finally got a couple of runners out at Bangor on Wednesday and were delighted with Jardin De Vienne's fast finishing 3rd place. Initially, I was perhaps a little disappointed with Nil Bleu's
first run over hurdles as he's been working and schooling so well at home, but on reflection, due to the fact they took out 3 hurdles because of the low sun, he had a long gallop before
facing his first obstacle which must have come as a bit of a culture shock having probably thought he was back on the flat!
They've both come out of their races really well and Nil Bleu will have more intensive schooling (as well as an intensive talking to) before he runs again on the 25th of this month.

We have 3 very nice horses in Mendo, River City and Commander Kev, running at Cheltenham on Sunday, all of whom we've been dying to run for some time now, but you can always guarantee good, safe ground at Cheltenham, amongst all the other great things about the course, and their day has finally arrived. You may remember Commander Kev's brave run to finish 3rd at the last meeting, having missed all of last season through injury.

We've been joined this week by Adam Jones, a French jockey whose brother helps source horses for us in France. He's here on a sabbatical for 3 weeks and it's been great to have him around - the french horses are enjoying him too!

Noel

News - Thursday 1st November 2007

Sorry we didn't have any news for you last week, and I'm afraid there's not a lot to talk about this week either, mainly due to the
lack of rain and firm ground. We've made plenty of entries, but
until we get some genuine good jumping ground, the horses are
better off staying sound at home.

Speaking of soundness, I've just heard that our jockey, Will Kennedy, has broken his collarbone this afternoon, and will be off games for a few weeks, and with plenty of horses for him to ride when the ground does improve, it's a major blow for both him and us.

Our new Racing Club horse, Nil Bleu, has his first run over hurdles next weekend at either Sandown or Hereford. He's been schooling nicely and fingers crossed he'll run well for us.

Now, back to the raindance!

Noel

News - Saturday 20th October 2007

It's Witney rug time of year at last, and this morning was one of those fabulous mornings - a bit of a frost and the horses appearing up the gallops through the mist with the most amazing pink sky as a backdrop.

We were absolutely delighted with Commander Kev's run at Cheltenham yesterday. Having had such a long time out recovering from injury, he did us proud with a faultless round of jumping to finish 3rd. It's rather the same story with Red Ruffles today, so let's hope he too can put in a good round to come home safe and sound.

We have a few entries around but are still waiting for the elusive rain to make enough difference to the ground. One horse I'm looking forward to running is Goscar Rock, a really lovely old-fashioned steeplechaser who has been schooling well. He's very
well handicapped and will have his first run over fences as soon
as we get a bit of cut in the ground.

Good luck to the England World Cup Rugby Squad in Paris tonight.......they'll certainly need it!!

Noel

News - Friday 5th October 2007

Euphoria is short-lived in this game. We have been literally basking in the sun for the last couple of days with dry, sunny weather forecast for the weekend and into next week giving
us unseasonably firm ground. Having brought our horses back a little earlier this time to take advantage of the so often good to soft ground at this time of the year, it's a good job I'm blessed with a good head of hair and plenty to tear out as I predict big fields and ultra-competitive racing when the rains finally do come! On a more positive note, we are blessed with an all-weather strip at Mandown which has been invaluable recently and our Novice Chasers, in particular, have been schooling very nicely indeed. All schooled-up and nowhere to go springs to mind!!

I was hoping to take pride in the victories of our Lad's Football Team but to date they've always come up against a team who've been just too good. I hear Jose Mourinho is out of work and needs much more stimulation than just buying eggs in Portugal, so I think it's high time we signed him up (much to my Secretary's delight!). However, in the meantime, and just in case Jose gets a better offer, if there are any budding football coaches out there............................!!

Noel

News - Friday 28th September 2007

Well, the rains came just in time for 50% of the entered horses this weekend. Slew Charm runs tomorrow and Kimi makes his
long-awaited return on Sunday, both at Market Rasen. The weather this week has definitely changed, bringing about a feeling that the 'Winter' game is charging up and ready to go!!

A note for all our owners, and any prospective owners, really.
You may have read in the Racing Post about Chris Kinane, Assistant Trainer, who was kicked in the head in the parade ring and suffered serious head injuries. His family are to sue the trainer of the horse for between £3 and £5 million but as he is only insured for £1 million, they are able to sue the majority shareholder in the horse, resulting in him facing possible bankruptcy. We would therefore like to assure all our owners that we currently carry public liability insurance up to £2 million, which extends to all our owners providing their horse is in our care, and in light of recent events we are discussing the possibility of increasing this to £5 million.

Our 'top of the ground' horse Lorikeet runs for us at Lingfield this afternoon, one place where we hope the rain hasn't had too much impact yet!!

Best Wishes Noel

News - Friday 21st September 2007

One minute I'm sitting here looking at a very threatening dark grey sky thinking my prayers are about to be answered, and the next minute the sun is shining, not to mention the nice drying wind we've had for the last few days, and my hope of having a few runners next weekend seems to be disappearing over the horizon with it's ........ on fire!

Last Tuesday saw us saying our last farewell to good old Eddie Fisher. The monumental turnout at the Church of, amongst others, stable lads, jockeys and trainers, past and present, would have done him proud, not to mention the wonderful tributes from both his son and Nicky Henderson.

Despite the weather, some of our horses are already starting to change their coats, a sure sign that Autumn is well and truly with us and a reminder to put the Clippers in at the Saddlers for their
routine service!

I wonder if I'll be listing the declared horses next Friday.......??

Noel

News - Friday 14th September 2007

The prayers for rain are being sent on a pretty regular basis now that the end of the month is looming and we havent seen a drop of the wet stuff for quite an alarmingly long time now and we need more than enough to just settle the dust!

Back at the ranch though everything is ticking along nicely on the all-weather gallops which are riding a treat, all credit to the hard-working team at Mandown. Speaking of which I'm sure you all read in the Racing Post of the very untimely death of Eddie Fisher who had been synonymous with Lambourn's gallops for 50 years, during which time his commitment to keeping the gallops in order was outstanding. He had been well known to work all through the night, harrowing the gallops to make sure they didn't freeze and gritting the access tracks to ensure all was safe in time for first lot the following morning. Eddie had a legendary reputation and was held in great respect by all connected with Lambourn - it is so sad that he passed away just days before his retirement. His funeral will be held in Lambourn on Tuesday and those who want seats should be there early. He will be sorely missed.

Slew Charm runs for us on the flat at Kempton on Wednesday. Having finished 4th in his only run on the flat last season, and with this run being over a more suitable distance, we hope he'll acquit himself well before his scheduled run over hurdles towards the end of the month.

Some of you have asked to see a few Wedding photographs and these should, I am told, be available by clicking here.


Noel

News - Friday 7th September 2007

In my last scribe, I was wrestling with my speech for Richard & Fiona's wedding and I'm happy to say that having made it, no-one felt inclined to wrestle with me, which is a huge relief!! So, no-one booed me off the stage, but whilst standing there I cast my eye over the tables, and amidst the beautiful flowers I have to say that I have NEVER seen such a collection of Grade A drinkers in any one place at any one time. The table which in my opinion deserved a prize for consuming the most alcohol was the MENDO table, and I'm sure any pub in the country would be delighted with the patronage of any of the guests seated there, particularly as most of them managed to pull out sound the next morning only to start all over again!!

On a more serious note, everything went to plan, we were blessed with the most glorious weekend weather-wise, Fiona was an absolutely beautiful bride and I was a very proud father that day. Richard scrubbed up pretty well too!!

Back to business now, Tabaran was 2nd at Huntingdon on the 27th August and was claimed. We have a new recruit for the Racing Club in Nil Bleu who is coming along nicely. Lorikeet runs for us at Stratford tomorrow - his first run after a summer break and we hope he comes back in one piece. We have around ten horses tuning up for their first run during the first week of October and are praying that the rumours of an Indian Summer are all wrong, as we really need a nice drop of rain to keep these fellas on track.

Many thanks to all of you who sent your best wishes to Richard & Fiona on their wedding day and we hope to post a few photographs on the website in the next week or so.

Noel

News - Friday 24th August 2007

A very brief update this week. Some of you will know I have rather a big meeting to attend tomorrow......something that will probably eclipse both Cheltenham and Aintree put together!!
My daughter, Fiona, gets married to Richard Johnson in Hereford
and at the time of writing the going is good to firm, with the ground drying out all the time, but I'm hoping to have a full field with no last-minute non-runners, particularly the Bride!!

We were a little disappointed with Tabaran's run last Saturday but he goes to Huntingdon on Bank Holiday Monday where we hope he can improve on his fourth place last weekend.

Now........back to the speech!!

Noel

News - Friday 17th August 2007

We’ve had some very positive feedback for our new Website during it’s first week – thank you very much! Apologies to all our owners whose horses’ portfolio isn’t quite complete yet…….that’s either because they haven’t come in yet, or they were too fresh, fidgety or petulant when our photographer was here so we’ve planned another photo shoot for them next week. Who’d work with either horses or Supermodels?!?!

The yard is about ¾ full now, with the most advanced of these heading towards their first piece of work at the end of this month. All the horses are looking superb and all the preparations are going to plan at the moment – long may this continue, in fact until next May would be just fine!

We’re off to Market Rasen tomorrow with a long-awaited runner in Tabaran, ridden by Will Kennedy, and who runs for our Racing Club. Good luck to them both! Noel

News - Friday 10th August 2007

WELCOME to the launch of our new Website. We’ll be updating our news page on a weekly basis and hope you find it a good way to keep in touch with what’s going on at the yard, and for those of you who enjoy shopping, don’t forget to keep an eye on our Horses for Sale page!!

We’re gearing up for the new term now with some very exciting new recruits, along with our good old campaigners, and we look forward to seeing all our owners in the Winner’s Enclosure at some point during the season.

With very best wishes, Noel