Monday 8th September

With the ground going soft at Bath, Sumatran Tiger like many others was withdrawn from her intended race last week.  This was a shame as there are very few opportunities around for her at present on the flat.  We will continue to school her over jumps with the intention of running her in a novices hurdle on some safe ground should we not find a suitable flat race for her to follow up after her promising stable debut at Bath.

With many of the jumpers gradually building up their fitness for October, we have some flat entries coming up with Mostly Mozart entered at Bath at the weekend and Fighting Poet in at Brighton on Monday.  Mozart has been treated for gastric ulcers since his last race, whilst Fighting Poet is in good form following his recent win at the Sussex track.

I was fortunate enough to attend Burghley on Saturday for the first time.  One of the highlights of the eventing calendar, it is great to see other equine sports performed at the highest level.  I’ve always been interested in how equestrian sports can learn from each other and undoubtedly, thanks to Yogi Breisner and others – the technicality of jumping from both horse and rider has improved over recent decades.

It was a privilege to see Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo (pictured) go round inside the time on the beautifully built yet demanding course.  For any horse lover, it was wonderful to see both horse and rider in perfect union achieve a well-deserved victory.