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Monday 21stOctober

Rubaud will have to wait a little longer to start his chasing career after winning Kempton’s valuable Listed Hurdle in great style on Sunday for the second year running.

His schooling over fences at home has been very good but first I felt it was worth taking him back to a course that plays so well to his strengths.He’s a class act, travelled stylishly throughout at Kempton and readily saw off the challenge of Kihavah on the flat.
Some of our winter horses have been just needing their first runs but Rubaud had done plenty and is now likely to try to repeat his victory in the Elite Hurdle at Wincanton before switching to fences. He’s going to be an exciting chaser.
Beau Balko also ran a nice ran at Kempton and like a few of ours will benefit from the outing. It’s a long season and the better horses are coming on beautifully at home and we will have plenty of winners soon.
I’m already looking ahead to the weekend when we will have some interesting runners at Cheltenham’s two day meeting and at Aintree and Wincanton on Sunday. Brave Knight might go to Cheltenham on Friday and Kalif Du Berlais could run there on Saturday while Hitman and Stage Star are both likely to go for the Old Roan Chase at Aintree.
For the latest news on my weekend runners please be sure to check out my Betfair column which goes live on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

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Monday 29th April

We ended another very rewarding but somewhat frustrating season at Sandown on Saturday with the fantastic sight of our brilliant stable jockey Harry Cobden deservedly being crowned champion jockey for the first time.

Harry is a big team player, a good man, and has never stopped improving ever since he started riding out for us at the age of fourteen. He gained his first winner for us on Ulck Du Lin at Wincanton in April 2015, when he was sixteen, has kept progressing year after year and has been riding at the peak of his powers all season.
Some of our horses were a bit over the top by the final week of the season and rain on watered ground didn’t help a few of them on Saturday and lots will be finished now and turned out if it ever stops raining or warms up.
Blueking d’Oroux ran a blinder in the Select Hurdle and might just have an entry in France before going out to grass. He is an exciting one for the future and is likely to stay over hurdles next season.
It was good to see Pic D’Orhy parading with all the other stars at Sandown. He had another cracking season, won a Grade 1 and will be back for more in the autumn. The same applies to Ginny’s Destiny. We also have some smart types to look forward to including Caldwell Potter, Kalif du Berlais, Kabral du Mathan and Regents Stroll and many more talented youngsters
Although I missed out on the trainers’ title this time I’m pleased that we had such a good season with 132 winners, more than any other yard in this country. Our strike rate was consistently high at 23% and our horses earned almost £3 million in prize money for their owners.
The persistently wet weather month after month put a dampener on our chances because a lot of our horses like better ground than they encountered this season.
But we have still had a great campaign with a top team of enthusiastic staff, loyal owners and nice horses who will be ready to go again after a summer break. If you look at the statistics over half the horses we had in training won races. How can we be disappointed with those kind of results?
The same team can’t win the Premiership every year and that applies equally to racing. Now it is a case of re-grouping, just like a Premier League club, by having a little bit of a clear out, bringing in some fresh legs to try to bolster the squad and running a handful in the summer before we go again when we get busy in October.
The loss of Paul Barber and the tragedy of Keagan Kirkby made for a difficult time for everyone associated with the yard and I can only praise and thank my team for their thorough professionalism through it all. I also want to thank all our owners for their support this season.

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Monday 22nd April

We head to Sandown on Saturday with the exciting prospect of Harry Cobden being crowned champion jockey for the first time.
He has been riding at the top of his game all season and richly deserves to end up top of the table.

Harry is such an important part of our team, provides vital feedback on the horses and I’m delighted to have put him on 84 of his winners this season.
The chances of my retaining the trainers’ title are pretty much over after Willie Mullins left Ayr in Saturday night with a substantial lead. We have given it a good go as usual and a glance at the statistics shows that we have had 127 winners this season including a double at Wincanton on Sunday. That’s more than other yard in this country and at a consistently high strike rate of 24%.
I’m proud of our system at Ditcheat which has delivered success at the highest level over many years. 3760 winners since 1991 confirms it works well and I have a target of 4,000 firmly in my sights.
I’m lucky enough to have been champion trainer fourteen times and will be doing my best to increase that total in the future. But it’s hard to be champion without any truly top horses and I’d say we have done really well to pick up all the prize money we have this season with the quality of the horses in the yard. We do lack top horses and some of our squad that have been on the go for quite a while have been running a bit flat.
The trainer I feel sorry for is Dan Skelton who looked to have sound claims when he hit the front in the title race but now looks to have been blown out of the water by the Mullins battalions.
I will be picking and choosing our runners through the week before taking a big team to Sandown on the final day on Saturday which can hopefully help us reach the total of £3 million in prize money. They include Fire Flyer and Panjari in the novice handicap hurdle, Threeunderthrufive in the bet365 Gold Cup and Blueking d’Oroux in the Select Hurdle.
Then we will be starting a new campaign afresh and it goes without saying that I will be giving it my best shot.

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