Saturday 4th July, 2026

Tech That ran a pleasing race at Worcester on Wednesday in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase, jumping well before being out paced in the straight.  He would appreciate a step up in trip and hopefully he can get back to the earlier form in his career which looked pretty useful.

As ever, the pace of the race did not suit Fighting Poet at Epsom on Wednesday evening and it was a sprint from three out which was not Poet’s style.  Hopefully we can find a race that suits him better in the future.

Baron Wagstaff travelled well in the mile and a quarter handicap at Nottingham on Thursday before appearing to not let himself down on the good to firm ground and Sean D Bowen was not hard on him.  We will look for a step up in trip on better ground in the future.

Express Train (pictured) made a pleasing debut for us at Kempton as he travelled well into the straight having shown freshness early on in the race.  He tired in the final furlong and Rab Havlin recommended we go on a stiff six furlong straight course on goodish ground to be seen at his best.  He looks sure to give his owners some fun in the coming months.

We have declared Manton Road in the mile handicap at Wolverhampton on Monday run at 8.30pm.  He was unlucky in running last time out when a staying on third and hopefully he will have more luck this time and David Egan takes the ride.

Very sad to hear of the passing of Graham Bradley.  I had the pleasure of being his next door neighbour for decades and he was quite simply one of the kindest men you could ever meet.  A brilliant horseman with enormous self-confidence – to those that knew him he was a racing legend.  I know David Elsworth would have liked him to have ridden Desert Orchid if he had his way, which is a great testament to the man.

I was in conversation with Brad and AP McCoy one day talking about riding.  AP expressed the view that he would never trust a horse which served him well in his incredible career, Whereas Brad replied “No AP, you’ve got to trust them kid, you’ve got to trust them with your life.”  That tells you everything about Brad who was very trusting, in fact too trusting of humans but his infectious character will not be forgotten by the many in the sport who knew him well.  Our sympathies go out to his wonderful family and especially Bob and Georgia May who could not have been more supportive during his illness.