A VERY, VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR OWNERS, HORSES, LADS AND LASSES AND READERS.

MAY YOU ALL HAVE A FANTASIC CHRISTMAS TIME AND A WONDERFULLY HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL 2010.

(RIGHT) ONE OF OUR PRE-CHRISTMAS HIGHLIGHTS, TIME FOR RUPERT WINNING AT CHELTENHAM IN DECEMBER.

Just as the horses hit top form, our double at Doncaster being another highlight, Jack Frost and Sidney Snow swept the country plunging the United Kingdom into its usual winter chaos. The local councils and Highways Agencys could probably learn plenty from the Gallopsmen of racing yards all over the country about how to keep things ticking over during inclement weather. In our case, we have not missed a canter, despite -6c and a few inches of snow, due to forward planning and hours of tractor driving by Martin and Balash. Our gallop has been groomed perfectly and I only hope we can capitalise on and reward everybody's extra efforts, by producing winners in the next week. That however will be tough as the competition will be fierce with the backlog of horses due a run and the valuable prizes on offer.

Boxing Day means Kempton and it is always great to have a runner worthy of running on such an exciting day. This has proved a lucky meeting for us in the past with the likes of Land Afar, Frosty Canyon, De Soto and last year the late and so lamented Pressgang. It is DE SOTO we rely on tomorrow to punch our ticket to attend the King George. He runs in a fiendishly competitive handicap hurdle, where to finish in the first six will be admirable. I feel he may find life easier over hurdles now that he's in that tough 130-rated zone, as he does not have endless scope over fences in tough races.

Time for the trainer to feed Christmas Lunch to the horses while my elves seek a little time with their families.......... don't feel sorry for me as I will hopefully be fed later!

Hope you all have a lovely holiday time and look forward to lots of winners together through 2010.

A star was born around these here parts yesterday................. COIS FARRAIG showed himself to be a horse of vast potential when running on to finish 19 lengths behind Bellvano who is himself now favourite for the first at Cheltenham in March! If 'FARRAIG' has been born under a lucky star, then we could have someting special in the yard, we'll see.
Today we have two more seasonal debutants. MARLEY ROCA improved all through last season and ran very well when second at Uttoxeter in May. He has continued to develop and mature into a mighty beast now and i hope he'll be in the first four today. HERE'S THE KEY ran on well in her only bumper in February and would have run in the mares final at Sandown in March, but pulled a muscle in her hind-quaters before the race. She schools well and this looks an average race. 'CRUELLA' looks the type to handle the notorious 'north-face' of the Towcester mountain, but you just do not know for sure what type of horse handles this track until they have run there.

A disappointing debut for CITRUS MARK at Newbury yesterday, but he did get badly banged about when travelling well into the straight and is understandably lame this morning. Not the introduction we expected or he needed, so we'll re-build him and his confidence.
Two nice debutants at Newbury today, ICY COLT (ARG) and COIS FARRAIG (gaelic for 'By the sea'). 'PEDRO' will need the experience and i'm not sure how an argentine-bred will handle softish ground, but he has scholed very well and should show promise. 'FARRAIG' is a lovely chasing type ,who won a 2 1/2 mile point-to-point in Ireland in April. He will want further than this and this is a hot Newbury novice hurdle, but he is a horse to follow for the season.

Yesterday was a big day for the Webber family and Cropredy Lawn when TAFIKA finished a very promising fourth on his debut in the bumper at Chepstow. 'TAFFY' is the fifth generation of his family to wear my Mum's colours and the fourth generation to have been bred and raised at Cropredy Lawn. He is a mighty 16.3h+ beast who is bred to be a magnificent chaser. His grand-dam Auntie Dot was third in the Grand National as well as winning 15 races, while his great grand-dam, Dream Isle won twelve. It is also the family of Townley Stone, Ollie Magern and Petite Margot and soon to be the family of a lovely un-raced Alderbrook gelding we have called Uncle Ant. He stayed on very well in typically testing Chepstow ground and has had a perfect 'prep' for the 2012/2013 Welsh Nationals!
Today we unleash CITRUS MARK, a four year old by Mark of Esteem out of that great racemare Lemon's Mill. He has lived here since his yearling days and has developed so well in the last year. He worked well on the grass at Edgcote last week and will run well today. I just get the feeling he may be one piece of work short, having had a little interuption for a sore shin some six weeks ago, but he is a horse of great potential.

Don't think the Trainer will get much sleep tonight.
A middle-sized yard such as ours does not have a battery of howitzers to fire at the enemy, we have to rely on snipers and guerilla warfare to try and dart in, to pick off the occasional big prize. Tomorrow we send our troops off in a wide pincer-attack on Ascot, Haydock and Huntingdon. No point moaning about N.H. prize money, there is stacks of it on offer over this weekend, let's hope we can grab some for our owners.
TIME FOR RUPERT dives into the deep end off the top board at Ascot tomorrow and will mix it with all sorts of proven high class horses. This race still seemed preferable than a seasonal debut in a 3m. 1f. slog in Haydock's heavy ground. We do not disguise that we think this horse has developed and improved, but he will improve further for tomorrow's race. He will run well, but i cannot quite see a fairytale occuring...... but it may well later in the season. SCAMPI BOY is another son of Flemensfirth that we admire and this horse worked very well with 'RUPERT' on the grass at Edgcote last week. His nickname is 'Phonsie' after the legendary Phonsie O'Brien from whom i bought him. Let us just hope that a little of the legendary O'Brien magic has rubbed off on him......... i think it has.
PENNY QUEEN has a tricky task at Huntingdon, but has come on for her first start at Towcester where she got no luck in running. She re-opposes her conqueror, but will be much closer over this 2m 5f. trip. LASKARI is our best chance of the day, where everything looks ideal for him in the 'veterans' chase at Huntingdon. Right-handed, decent ground and 2 1/2 miles should be spot on.
APPLEADAY will have conditions to suit at Haydock and forgive his first start as he has needed his first run of each season and has run identically on his debut each time. He is ridden by my highly talented God-son, Tom Scudamore and i'm sure he thinks it is time to repay all those fantastically generous presents and endless helpful advice !!

ASHAMMER makes his debut for us at Huntingdon today. He had one run when trained in France by M. Royer-Dupre for H.H. Aga Khan and arrived earlier in the year, since when he's been given plenty of time to grow and mature into a fine horse. He is a half-brother to Ashkassar and works well at home. He is 'garnished' with A.P. McCoy, which is honour for the yard and if he repeats his home work, will win today. My only 'caveat' is........... a son of King's Best going jumping??????????

AUSTRALIA DAY has just set off to Taunton on a retrieval mission for his unfortunate experience at Kempton last month. He was a little stiff and sorry for himself after slipping on landing at the first hurdle, before completing four miles around Kempton, including the jumping of two steeplechase fences! He schooled well yesterday and looks to be back to his usual fierce form. The track and the ground are ideal and he has an 'evens favourite's' chance..... but then we said this last time.
AUSTRALIA DAY was one of 22 horses that schooled yesterday. TIME FOR RUPERT and PENNY QUEEN practised over our specially-made replica of Hayock's brush hurdle, (or mini steeplechase fence) in preparation for 'RUPERT's seasonal debut in their valuable handicap on 21st Nov. He schooled really well and looks every bit the chaser-in-the-making, but is only a five year old and the competition in this season's novice chase division looks terrifying! I'm hoping that he'll make into the top level of the staying hurdlers and saturday will tell us whether he will.
EDGEBRIAR schooled over fences for the first time this autumn and looked awesome. Others that impressed include, COIS FARRAIG, ASHAMMER, SARANDO, BLACK ANNIE and KRISTALLO. With some of our runners having needed their first run upto now, i feel that the string are now pretty straight and should show their best efforts now.
Please keep those fingers crossed!

SORRY!

I argee we'd all like to be told of 16/1 certainties, but ALASI did only just win by a short head, in the last stride!

As i've said and you've realised, most of our runners have needed their first run and there is no doubt that ALASI will improve no end from her's, it's just that she has had an extra two weeks before her debut, but even she has not worked on the grass.

Yesterday was particularily thrilling as ALASI is the first winner for Shully Liebermann, who is such a tremendous supporter of Cropredy Lawn and has supplied us with some ALASI (jumping second) winning at Lingfield.

very promising fillies. Sadly Shully was

unable to attend his 'maiden winner', but i'm sure will be present for many, many more. Many

people thought ALASI to be the pick of the paddock and as she stands nearly 17 hands, she did tower over many of her rivals. It was a promising effort as the field was made up of some good bumper-winning fillies, we hope this filly has a bright future.

JUST VICTOR runs at Warwick today in a small, but tricky-looking race. He wears a tongue-tie today which i hope will help him to finish in the first four.

Somehow Haydock has survived its early morning inspection and racing goes ahead today, after some very pesamistic predictions yesterday. The heavy ground is perfect for APPLEADAY, but it will test his fitness on his first start of the season. This is not his big aim, but he is very ready to run. William Kennedy will have to settle him early, as he flew the first fence and then ran too free with Dominic in the Midlands National in April. However the horse cannot lie out of his ground as he is not very quick, a proper test for our jockey today, to get it exactly right!

In this business it is very important to appreciate the good parts of the day, such as the horses looking healthy, being healthy, working like the wind(!) and schooling well. These two pictures represent the best part of this trainer's day.....Today.
You saw the first picture of our newest purchase, GTAAB on the web-site yesterday; now on his sixth day at Cropredy Lawn, you can see his first experience of jumping!
Talk about 'a natural jumper', this is
as good a pupil as we've had here.
What is also so impressive is his
temprament, as he is still a colt He is
just so cool. I really do not think this
horse should remain unsold for very
long, so if you feel the faintest
temptation, please give me a call
a.s.a.p.

Plenty of horses 'schooled' well this morning with AUSTRALIA DAY showing 'no worries, mate' from his unfortunate fall at Kempton. He will probably swerve Wincanton this weekend in favour of Taunton or Cheltenham next week. ASHES SUMMER continues to thrive and jumped well with TIME FOR RUPERT, LLAMA FARMER and HERE'S THE KEY. Three fillies worked well together, with OSMOSIA, BLACK ANNIE and an un-named Overbury all showing promise.
Sadly all the pleasure of these performances was wiped away by Andrew Thornton disappearing through the wing on a hitherto completely reliable jumper. This horse's name has been with-held to prevent ambulance-chasing, so-called 'lawyers' from contacting me or the horse's owner. Andrew's almost legendary experience of injury told him instantly that he'd damaged his left shoulder. He was quickly, but legally, driven to see his surgeon at the Ridgeway Hospital near Swindon and sure enough his own diagnosis was proven too accurate. He has sustained a fracture to his left scapula which will mean 4-5 weeks on the sidelines.
The ability of National Hunt jockeys to find a chink of light in a dark, gloomy tunnel is well-documented and it is that very spirit that can inspire recovery from injury and frustration that would reduce normal humans to gibbering basket-cases. Andrew's reaction to this frightful injury was to ring his pal Dominic Elsworth, who is also on the injured list. Poor Dominic had a horrible fall at Ffos Las two months ago and is still feeling the effects of his concussion. As their favourite pastime golf (?) is off the agenda right now, they plan an unusual treat for National Hunt jockeys...... Lunch!
The only honourable thing for a trainer to do was to offer to sponsor their 'theraputic troughing'! Just wish i'd qualified to join them, but currently neither wearing a sling or having a headache, I did not deserve an invite! A few moments later I receive a picture text of Marco Pierre White's pub, The Yew Tree near Newbury and then one merely saying, "Dom Perignon or Cristal?"
More proof, though none is ever needed, of just what special people, "The Knights of the Pigskin" really are. Let's hope the day has ended a tiny bit better than it looked like doing earlier.

HERE HE IS............ FOR SALE.

GTAAB.

3.y.o. B. C. Cape Cross- Nabadhaat.

16.2 hands, strong, rangy colt with an excellent temprement. Bred by Shadwell Stud, by the sire of SEA THE STARS and his grandmother Roseate Tern won the Yorkshire Oaks. Trained by Ed Dunlop, GTAAB ran with promise three times as a two year old, but then proved too backward with little 'niggly problems' to run this summer. Has been given the time to mature and develop and has a fantastic frame to make into an excellent dual-purpose prospect with the scope to jump fences in time.

Bought by myself and Tom Goff of Blandford Bloodstock for 16,000gns at last week's Tattersalls Horses-in -Training sale where he was Lot 976. Please give me a ring to discuss GTAAB in more detail.

What a delight not having to drive along the A14 today, as commuting to Newmarket for the four days of the Horse in Training sale becomes a bit of bind. However well worth all the study and hardwork to purchase GTAAB fron Ed Dunlop and Shadwell Stud. Pictures and details will appear on this site very shortly, so please take interest.
KENTMERE returns to the racecourse after 397 days at Uttoxeter today. He was an intended runner at Towcester last sunday, but although they had done their best and indeed a good job watering the track, the take-off and landings of the fences were still very quick. Sadly no sprinklers seem to manage to reach these areas as evenly as the rest of the course and there is also a tendency for take-offs and landings to become compacted and unforgiving. This a much hotter contest than the one he had to miss where he was a 7/1 'morning-line' chance, as opposed to a 25/1 shot today. He will run better than his price suggests but may be too 'rusty' to win.
Saturday's plans are still not confirmed, more later.

A moderate week so far on the racecourse but plenty being achieved at home as the horses work towards their seasonal debuts. The trainer made (yet another!) error by under-cooking MRS. TRELLIS, who 'needed' her run more than i had expected at Worcester on wednesday. She jumped and ran very well until she 'blew up' quickly, two hurdles from home. Sorry, but do not lose any faith in her, she is a good filly in the making. The rain came at exactly the wrong moment for RED BIRR, and he could not cope with the loose, chewed ground at Ludlow. A mid-winter wind operation awaits him after a little holiday.
LASKARI is extremely well, in fact i'll ruin his chances by saying that he's never looked or felt better. It is a competitive veterans chase today but he usually runs very well when fresh and I hope he's fit enough, there's the doubt after last week's nasty surprise. JUST VICTOR has thrived for his little summer break and has an each-way chance in a warm maiden hurdle at Stratford. DUDLEY DOCKER makes his debut over hurdles and although working and schooling well, there has to be a doubt, or at least it is unknown, whether he'll get the trip.

Cropredy Lawn Update.

The weekend did not go according to plan. ASHES SUMMER ran very acceptably in her first hurdle race and loved the jumping bit, finishing a very creditable third, but AUSTRALIA DAY got no furhter than the landing side of the first! Seldom has a horse had conditions so in his favour, so for Lady Bad Luck to intervene was nothing less than a bloody nightmare. After slipping on landing the horse scrapped himself up of the floor, jumped two steeplechase fences, went to the front again, won the race by 35 lengths and then did an extra lap of the track! Somehow, he is pretty unscathed a will hopefully have the chance to make amands before the weather finally turns wetter. COME APRIL was a complete cow at Pontefract and let us down badly, enough said.
Today MRS. TRELLIS runs in a very hot mares only hurdle race at Worcester. She ran very adequately in her mares bumper in the spring and has physically thrived since then. She schools well and will run well, but may still only finish 3rd,4th of 5th in this spicey contest.

Cropredy Lawn Update

What a frantic week, despite only having one runner and no yearling sale to attend!
We've been on a four-lot routine for a month now and the horses have been doing tremendous groundwork for their preparation towards their seasonal debuts.
We are all hoping for rain in order to proceed with schooling but i do admit i would be reluctant to have swapped some of the glorious autumn mornings that we have had recently for 'soft refreshing rain'. On tuesday we schooled 21 horses over the tyres, baby hurdles and full-size hurdles. It was more show-jumping practice than schooling as the handbrakes were full-on, as the ground is still so fast. But we have had very heavy dews and have also purposely left the grass longer than usual to provide some sort of cushion to the schooling field. William Kennedy, Andrew Thornton, Danny Hannig, Ben Brackenbury and Josh Pierce were all kept busy and remarkably all 21 horses jumped well. For many this was their first jumping experience outside of our loose jumping-lane where they have had masses of practice. All that loose-schooling has taught them well as they all jumped straight and with great enthusiasm.
Amongst tuesday's jumpers were tomorrow's runners ASHES SUMMER and AUSTRALIA DAY who both look in excellent form and well-being. ASHES SUMMER makes her debut in the 3.y.o. hurdle after running well in her two maidens on the flat at Bath and Kempton. This filly has a tremendous attitude and continues to improve. It's a while since we had a promising juvenile hurdler, especially a filly, but i hope we have one here. AUSTRALIA DAY has conditions absolutely in his favour tomorrow as going right-handed on fast ground at Kempton should be as an ideal scenario as he'll ever get. His run over 1 1/2m. at Ascot last time proved that he now stays better than last year. The form of his very good fourth on the flat at Doncaster is rock solid, as the winner Mawatheeq won the Cumberland Lodge and runs in the Champion Stakes today and the second Eastern Aria won a listed race in France next time out. His race is a valuable listed novice hurdle with good competition but we think he remains in top form.
COME APRIL runs at Pontefract on monday and i think the stiff 1 1/4m. will suit her better than the underlating 1 1/2m at Goodwood last time. She has dropped 5lbs and should be less 'rusty' than she was at Goodwood which was her first start for well over two years. Her work has been consistently good and she should go close in this race.

Cropredy Lawn Update

After the excitement of The Open Day weekend, this last week took on a rather mundane look. ASHES SUMMER got trapped on the rail around Kempton and by the time she extracated herself the front two had flown. DE SOTO was a non-runner at Stratford, due to the ground quickening up rapidly on a warm windy day and then COME APRIL was too rusty and unhappy on the undulations of Goodwood. We stayed down for a night near Goodwood and the highlight of the week was our discovery of The Royal Oak at East Lavant and the Kingley Vale Nature Reserve nearby. If you ever have the chance you must visit both, as our walk through the vale, the largest and oldest Yew forest in Europe, on a cloudless autumn day, was truely spectacular.
Back to business with a vengence today at Market Rasen. The promise of good ground and lots of loot lures us upto Lincolnshire with DE SOTO and ROBERT THE BRAVE. Both horses are in great form and have good 'shouts'. The handicap is worth a massive 60k, so is obviously very competitve, but DE SOTO could still be well-handicapped, so maybe it's best to have a crack at a big pot now. ROBERT only has four rivals, but King Troy is rated well above us and will be difficult to beat.
AUSTRALIA DAY tries 1 1/2m. for the first time at Ascot on sunday. This is a bit of an experiment as we all know how keen he can be and Ascot is not really a front-runner's track, but although he gets beaten for speed sometimes in the final furlong, he is usually staying on again at the line. Let us hope that Martin Dwyer is allowed an easy lead.
So chances in valuable races over the weekend, lets hope we can grab some of the swag somewhere!
P.S. Watch out for the unveiling of a possible future star in the 5.05 at Gowran today...Midas Touch. He may not win today, but follow this comet's tail!

Cropredy Lawn Update.

What a spectacular day Open Day Sunday was, pictures of which will appear on the web-site a.s.a.p. Over 250 guests, on a beautiful September day in a lovely relaxed atmosphere. All horses AND humans were on their very best behaviour and the day was supplemented by the finest food and drink. Add all that to the fact that we have raised between £4-5,000 for the Oxon./Berks./Bucks Air Ambulance and you'll see why everybody was pretty knackered yesterday!
ASHES SUMMER did not quite get the 'breaks' at Kempton yesterday. She was ment to track Frankie Dettori, but got trapped on the rails further back than intended, so the first two got first run on her. She finished a lot closer to Kinetics than at Bath and is still making progress. We will decide whether to pursue our aim of winning a maiden or handicap on the flat before going 3.y.o. hurdling.
DE SOTO runs at Stratford today over 2m. 7f. and looks to have a favourite's chance. He is in top form and i hope has gained confidence from his win at Bangor. The track and trip is on the sharp side for him, but we hope that he has the class to get away with that.

Cropredy Lawn Update.

AUSTRALIA DAY followed up his easy win last weekend with a very creditable fourth at Doncaster on thursday. There is no doubt that he's a slightly better horse racing right-handed as he favours 'leading' with his off-fore leg and just tends to lean away from the rail that way around. His front-running tactic tends to set it up for his competitiors who, now that he has gone from 68 to 97 in the weights, have the class to pick him off. It could be time to experiment with a try at 1 1/2m. He might then gain an easier lead, yet he shows no sign of stopping in his races, as though stamina may not be a problem.
We send what we think is a pretty nice two year old for his debut at Leicester today. RAKHAPURA has had a good preparation and has worked nicely at Wolverhampton on two occasions. He's a bit gassy and is best ridden in behind as he get a bit keen, but i would think they should go fast enough over six furlongs to lessen that problem. He looks fit and hard but will obviously benefit from the race and he is in against some experienced rivals. His lad, Danny Hannig has done a tremendous job with this horse and we are hopeful of a very encouraging run. If he remains calm and settled, i'm sure he'll run with great promise.
This is one of the most frantic weeks of the year , building up to The Open Day on sunday and is you stand still around here for a second, you will either get brushed, swept up or painted! Got to go as it's time for first lot and then i've got to finish painting the gates and fences at the top of the drive. We've got a few horses to sell this week and first impressions count for a lot!!

Cropredy Lawn Update

AUSTRALIA DAY was without doubt our easiest ever winner yesterday, i think he took less out of himself than DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM travelling to Folkestone for his walk-over in November 2003! He won easing right down by 34 lengths in a time nearly 7 seconds faster than standard, i wonder what time he would have done if challenged! It was a great confidence booster for him after his tough flat races and he would not have 'blown a candle out'. He ate up last night and is mad fresh in the paddock this morning so we are considering running him at Doncaster on thursday in a 1 1/4m handicap. The weather looks set fair this week so 'SKIPPY' will get his favoured fast ground.
The superbly named ASHES SUMMER makes her debut at Bath today but is bound to benefit from the experience. She worked well at Wolverhampton two weeks ago and looks to be a real trier, but fifth or sixth would be pleasing enough today. Expect By Request to come on a stone from her debut at Ripon last week.

Cropredy Lawn Update

Jerry, Amy and CARBON PRINT have set off on their 159 mile journey to the beach at Yarmouth to try to win the 5.50pm, an apprentice handicap over 1 1/4m. Sir Mark Prescott's apprentice, Rosie Jessop is doing the steering and conditions look ideal. The ground at Newmarket, rain sodden and Lingfield over-watered have not been in this horse's favour so there will be no excuses on that (beach)front today. He has an excellent chance.

Cropredy Lawn Update.

Its all so exciting. Our new, improved, '25% Extra free' Web-site is taking shape. It now has a blog, whatever that is and will soon feature photos in amongst the News pages. Wow, it's all too much. Of course this all means more work for the illiterate trainer, but he'll do his best.
Plenty of entries towards the end of the week, but running plans are still pretty vague. DE SOTO looks like being too far out of the handicap to risk running in the 50k chase at Ffos Las on friday, which will be a big shame as he's in top form. Patience has been rewarded with him and there will be more 'pay days' if we bide our time.
MEER UND WIND worked well at Wolverhampton last friday and is entered on sat., sun., and monday. She is working very easily and we are still confused by her below-par run at Warwick after pleasing all on her debut at Goodwood.
AUSTRALIA DAY got a bit impatient in the heavy M25 traffic he encountered on the way to Sandown last saturday and moved a hind shoe, the clip of which then pierced his foot. It was a desperate shame he had to miss the race as everything looked just about right for him. He is entered at Windsor this saturday, but is more likely to wait for a handicap hurdle at Stratford on 6th Sept.
ROBERT THE BRAVE is entered at Huntingdon in an attempt to follow up his win at Market Rasen, where he jumped an un-blemished round. He'll school tomorrow morning just as long as Hurrican Bill allowsus!
More detailed plans will appear later in the week.

What a BIG DAY Saturday was! Sorry not to have posted encouragement on this site, but after the non-event of DE SOTO's run at Lingfield it was difficult to be confident. I will not air my displeasure publically but Ted Durcan, an excellent man, disregarded every shread of advice we gave him, enough said. It was a huge thrill to win again with this horse and a massive tribute to head lad, Trevor Heath who looks after him and to all the team for re-building the horse's confidence. Dominic also deserves high praise for an immaculate ride. I've just heard that he's been raised 9lbs to 129 so we'll make a plan in the next few days.

ROBERT THE BRAVE lived right upto his name, when making just about all the running, to win his first chase at Market Rasen. He has always schooled like a chaser and he jumped very boldly for William Kennedy. Today we are literally 'chasing the hatrick' at Worcester where RED BIRR has his first run over fences. From the very first fence he has schooled over, 'BIRR' has just loved it, so we are very hopefully of a good run today, as long as our luck can last for three chases in succesion! 'BIRR' is Jane Nicholls' absolute favourite so this debut over fences is going to be thorough test of her nerve as much as that of the horse's, spare a thought for all at 5.40pm today.

New Diary

We have launched a new diary which will allow us to add photos from Cropredy Lawn. The new diary is also searchable and you'll be delighted to hear that it also has a spell checker.

A little quandary to start the day. This heavy rain of the last few days has been well-forecast and Lingfield received 17mm on thursday night as predicted. So it really helps that they watered on thursday afternoon adding 5mm to parts of the track. Although it may not appear so, are we in summer when we expect and plan for fast ground. Lingfield today will now be good to soft, whereas if they had not tried to 'play God' it would be perfect ground.

We know that DE SOTO does not act on soft 'jumping' ground as well as he does on better ground, indeed fast ground is ideal for him. Ted Durkan reported that CARBON PRINT would have won at Newmarket last time when he finished a close fourth on recently-softened ground. Yesterday i was pretty hopefully of a double, particularily as we have found a five runner maiden. Today, doubts have apppeared and we'll have to see how the ground is riding. I don't remember much latin from school, but i do recall studying a report from a rain-affected chariot racing meeting at the Colosseum. 17mm of rain changed the surface considerably and the form book was being torn to shreds. Victorius Chandlerus and his fellow bookmakers were 'denari-ing it in' and the advice from the Clerk of the Amphitheatre was....' Caveat Puntus'.

P.S. TO EARLIER MESSAGE.One of CARBON PRINT's classically educated owners has reminded me that the name of The Clerk of the Amphitheatre was of course..... Biggus Dickus.

Two matters of Admin.!!--- Apologies to anybody and everybody who has failed to contact us by e-mail or view the website for the last 10 days. Somehow our domain name was allowed to expire and it was then 'snapped up' by a Paul Webber in Melbourne, we think a car dealer...... Obviously the australian version of Kevin Williams! We have just managed to re-establish 'paul@paulwebberracing and www.paulwebberracing.com . I do hope that this has not caused aggravation or inconvenience.--- This year our Owner's Day, on 20th September 2009, is metamorphosing itself into "The Cropredy Lawn Open Day". This is because we wish to raise some much-needed money for The Air Ambulance that serves Berks/Oxon/Bucks. We have had two flying visits from this amazing service within the last two years.

Thankfully neither of these visits were horribly serious, but nonetheless feel we should try to help their fund-raising campaign. We hope that we will get even more people here for a very special day and that 'actual owners' will not mind sharing their event with other visitors, who we hope will become owners by the end of the day! If you know of people who would be interested in a visit to Cropredy Lawn, please get in touch with us, so that we can add them to our invitation list. Introductions to new owners will be enormously appreciated and very well rewarded!!--- VERY MANY THANKS.

After the relative calm of June, Cropredy Lawn is well back into busy mode. Indeed with the Lord's Ashes Test just reaching its magnificent conclusion, attentions can be focused now on preparing for the 'core' N.H. season ahead.All cleaning and painting is finished and the 'jumpers' are returning into their smartened rooms like school boys after the long summer holiday. These horses look tremendous and importantly, are not too fat as the hard feed that they have been fed daily, stops them from gorging themselves on limitless grass. It seems to take us about twelve weeks from field to racecourse and we aim to have the first 'winter jumpers' ready from 1st October. We have kept busy 'breaking in' the new horses from the sales and some two year olds that have been raised here. Some of these have nearly completed their primary education and will soon re-inhabit their fields to grow and develop through the winter and return for further training in the spring.The flat-string has been running well, but have spent recent weeks finishing third and fourth.

Some of them, including TRIBE, KRISTALLO, RED BIRR and ROBERT THE BRAVE will now either have a little break or revert to jumping in a few week's time. Our sole representative at the races this week will be TRADE FAIRLE at Bath on thursday. This colt has disappointed badly in his first two starts. We had a little word in his 'shell-like' ear in conjunction with applying a visor and he has certainly changed his ideas. AUSTRALIA DAY ran another consistent race to be third at Sandown and he will go to Goodwood for the opening race of the festival next tuesday. He remains in good form but does want real summer weather to arrive to insure his favoured very fast ground. The handicapper raised him another pound to a rating of 98, so life is not getting any easier for him! If showers persist, he could wait for Haydock and Sandown in August.

As The Sun used to say, "Phew...what a scorcher", but now that the editor Rebekka has become Mrs. Charlie Brooks, the headline could be a little racy than that!!If I was a horse I think that I would quite like to be trained at Cropredy Lawn or 'Clipperty Clopperty Lawn', as a friend re-named it recently! Not only do all the string go through the Water Walk straight after excercise to cool their legs, they then get a swim, before going back into their rooms to 'drip-dry' during the heat. Addionally in the afternoons they all get a cooling dip to help them remain comfortable until the evening. It's an equine spa and therapy club around here! Another advantage of the equine pool is that the day's runners can have a swim just before getting onto their horse box to go to the races, thus helping them 'keep their cool' during the journey and at the races.We hope that this attention to detail will help on friday when AUSTRALIA DAY returns to possibly his favourite track and probably mine, Sandown. He has risen 7lbs. in the weights for his win at the course last time and he has a rapidly-improving 3.y.o. filly of Mark Johnson's to contend with.

However 'SKIPPY'always gives his best and seems to continue to be in great form.If Martin Dwyer can cunningly steal a length or two on the bend, they may still find him difficult to peg back.KRISTALLO has a fine each-way chance at Warwick where he is stepping up in trip to 1m. 6+f. He ran a good race on his debut when fourth at Windsor and looked as though further would suit him well. He has worked well since.RED BIRR ran a 'cracker' at Chepstow to be third beaten a neck and 1/2l. and has another go at Nottingham on saturday night. We would like the forecast showers to materialise to take any sting out of the ground as I would not want to risk him on very firm ground. He always tries his best (as long as things go his way!) and it's time to get him into the winner's enclosure again.

I hope you're glad that we resumed communication in time for last friday's flat-race double although i can hear the complaints that i was not positive enough to inspire large betting investments! Both AUSTRALIA DAY and LAISH YA HAJAR never saw another competitor in their races, as each made every yard of the running. 'SKIPPY' does all his work on his own, as he's so keen, so it is difficult to gauge his fitness and i was nervous that he'd need the race. Anyway a really super day that confirms the horses to be very well at the moment.JUST VICTOR ran with good credit in his hurdle debut and apart from one novicey mistake at the fifth, jumped superbly to finish fourth in a hot novice for the time of year.Tonight MONOPOLE and CARBON PRINT run in an average-looking 1 1/4m. maiden at Windsor and both have little each-way chances. KRISTALLO could be well handicapped on his homework, as he runs off 60 and works well with Red Birr and 'Laish' who are rated higher than him. May the flat-racing sting's bandwagon roll on!

All right all right.... I'm sorry for my loss of literary consciousness.May and June are meant to be the 'quieter times' for this yard, but thankfully we right busy little buzzy bees around here.As usual one N.H. season finished on the Saturday and the next one seamlessly started the next day! Of course the emergence of TIME FOR RUPERT was the highlight of 'that season that was' and there are so many others to look forward too for this one. Most of our jumpers are very sleepy in their fields, but their slumbers will soon be disturbed as we go to catch most of them around 1st July. With only a handful of jumpers to run now, the spotlight will fall upon the enlarged flat-racing string that we are preparing for the summer. LAISH YA HAJAR, RED BIRR and TRIBE have already run well and indeed 'LAISH' has a favourite's chance at Chepstow on Friday night. He's run two very solid races to be fourth on both his starts and a repeat of those would see him go close under Richard Hughes. AUSTRALIA DAY makes his seasonal re-appearance at Sandown tomorrow, but may just need the run and the ground is not his favoured 'tarmac' either. However this seemed more sensible than 'giving him an outing' (whatever that means) in the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot next week, as it would have cost the owners a fortune in outfits and hats.

As a trainer we have to take these vital matters into consideration!Sunday sees JUST VICTOR have his first run in a hurdle race at Stratford and a hot one at that. As our schooling ground has been very firm we took him and DE SOTO to Lambourn this week, where Oliver Sherwood kindly got us onto the all-weather schooling ground. 'VICTOR' has now been there twice and looks good over hurdles. He showed promise on unsuitable soft ground in his only bumper at Warwick last December and will run well in a hot race.Mention of DE SOTO may make some of you sit up and take a little notice. Our old pal (only 8yrs. actually) looks completely tremendous. He schooled with 'gay abandon' last week and is working on the grass with FULL HOUSE at a secret location tomorrow morning. I would tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you, so I promise to report after the clandestine event. After all, we know that 'the walls have ears'.