Tuesday 15th August, 2023

The ground was a bit too fast at Lingfield today for Fighting Poet and we will look for an alternative race on some better ground for him.  Looking forward to having some jump entries next week and we have also Shibuya Song entered at Bath on Saturday.  We are building up the fitness of a lot of the string and touch wood, we have some nice prospects for the coming season.

It was great to welcome Lizzie Prowting to the yard yesterday to see Picanha who has won some nice races for us and will hopefully make a decent chaser this season.

Afterwards it was wonderful to celebrate her birthday at the King’s Head in Bledington along with her friends including Alan King, Dinah Nicholson, Jilly Cooper and Gillian Dunwoody.  It was great to hear so many funny stories being told over lunch which was inevitable as Gordon Clarkson also attended.

Saturday’s Shergar Cup was yet another victory for the lady jockeys team and it was great to see Saffie Osborne and Holly Doyle riding brilliantly, showing great strength and skill.  Very much looking forward to both jockeys being significant riders in the sport in the coming decade.

On Saturday we celebrated the 30th anniversary of Richard Phillips Racing’s first winner.  Stane Street won at Newton Abbot owned by the wonderful Jim Reade and ridden by Jamie Railton.  Jim was a great character and gave Captain Forster his first winner as well as myself, while Jamie has gone on to be one of the world’s leading sales consignors.  Many happy memories and looking forward to many more winners.