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Monday 31st October

All roads lead to Kempton on Boxing Day for Bravemansgame after his superb success in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday.

I couldn’t been happier with his preparation over the past few weeks and he justified my faith with a foot perfect round of jumping on the way to a deeply impressive victory by three and a half lengths from Eldorado Allen.
While the favourite Ahoy Senor clearly underperformed the runner up and the third Sam Brown are both smart chasers. Bravemansgame is right up there with the best we’ve had and Harry Cobden said he was in third gear the whole way, jumping for fun. I’ve aways thought this horse was the ideal type for the George VI Chase and that will be his next target.
He is young, exciting, still improving and can have an easy time ticking over at home before I start building up his fitness in a month’s time. I think I can get him even better for Kempton.
Bravemansgame provided the highlight of a rewarding treble for Team Ditcheat on Saturday with Thyme White also excelling in the valuable Byrne Group Chase at Ascot where Fire Flyer made a stylish winning debut in the bumper.
Lorcan Williams was at his best on our Ascot duo and might have enjoyed a four timer with a bit more luck. Samarrive looked poised to make a successful debut over fences until turning over at the second last while Danny Kirwan led over the final fence in the London Gold Cup but was caught by Our Power on the flat.
In addition Hacker Des Places, partnered by Angus Cheleda, ran a race full of promise when second in the two mile handicap hurdle. That should put him spot on for the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in a fortnight.
Thyme White surprised me because I thought he would need the run but he travelled through the race like a dream and will return to Ascot for a £125,000 two mile handicap Chase on November 19. Fire Flyer will also return to Ascot for the Listed bumper in December.
With a current strike rate of 31% the horses could hardly be in better form. Sonigino and Lime Avenue both won with plenty to spare at Chepstow in midweek and I was delighted with the winning debut of Gelino Bello over fences at Wetherby on Friday.
I’ll have plenty of entries in the next week or so but the ground is still quite quick at Exeter, Wincanton and Newbury so I will be closely monitoring ground conditions before finalising plans.
For the latest news on my runners on Friday and Saturday please be sure to check out my Betfair columns which go live on Thursday and Friday afternoons.

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Monday 24th October

The determined victory of Shearer at Cheltenham on Saturday took me to the landmark total of 3,500 winners since I began training at Ditcheat late in October 1991.

That figure includes all my successes over jumps and on the flat at home and abroad.
I began with eight horses and my first runner on November 2 at Chepstow was pulled up at half way.
Approaching Christmas I’d racked up half a dozen seconds and was beginning to wonder if my luck would ever turn. So you can imagine my relief when Olveston, owned in part by my parents, broke the duck for me over fences at Hereford in December 20 ridden by Hywel Davies. The show was on the road.
So much has changed since then but the fundamentals of Team Ditcheat remain the same. It is still a case of working the horses hard to get them fit and working them hard to keep them fit.
We have an exciting team for this winter and the next target is 4,000 winners.
Shearer has improved a fair bit since we sorted out his issues with sore shins. He was a bit of a baby last season, did well over the summer and it was good to see him find plenty up the hill on Saturday to see off Twig in a Class 2 Novice Hurdle.
We were thinking of going chasing with Shearer after Cheltenham but will now keep him to hurdles for the time being.
On Sunday Hitman came oh so close to becoming my 3,501st winner with a brilliant run under top weight in the Grade 2 Old Roan Chase at Aintree. He travelled beautifully throughout, winged the last just behind Riders On The Storm and kept on strongly on the flat but was just held by a whisker on the line.
Considering he was giving 20lbs to the winner it was a great effort by Hitman on his first run since a wind op.
Jumping the second last he landed tight on the backside of Beakstown. That cost him a vital two lengths but he again showed he was a good horse by making up the ground and pushing the winner to the limit. The key is that he can breathe now after a breathing operation in the summer. It was a fabulous run off a mark of 159 and as I warned beforehand, he is bound to come on no end for the run just as he did late last year when second in the Tingle Creek Chase after a fine seasonal debut in the Haldon Gold Cup.
Clan Des Obeaux won his first King George V1 Chase off a rating of 160 and I’d say Hitman is sure to go up at least to that mark and am sure is going to relish 3miles .
He is still only six with so much more to come from him and he will now head to Haydock on November 19 for the £50,000 Intermediate Chase over two miles, five furlongs, won last year by Bravemansgame. Then it will be straight to the King George at Kempton.
Now that the rain has come we hope to be very busy in the coming days with runners at Chepstow on Tuesday and Wednesday before we take a team to Wetherby and plenty to Ascot at the weekend.
Provided the ground is suitable Bravemansgame should run in the Charlie Hall Chase on Saturday, and Secret Investor will have an entry too and Gelino Bello could run over fences on Friday while Threeundertheufive might run in the bet365 Hurdle over three miles enroute to Newbury’s Coral Gold Cup.
If the ground is on the slow side of good we will run plenty. If it is fast we will have none.
For all the latest news on my runners on Saturday please be sure to turn to my Betfair column which goes live early on Friday afternoon.

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Monday 17th October

The Judges’ Award presented to Clifford Baker at the McCoys dinner at Cheltenham on Wednesday evening was fitting recognition for a man who has been at the heart of all our success for more than 25 years.

He is the first into the yard each morning, the last to leave in the evening and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his vital role as head lad. Running a busy racing yard is not like running a factory when you can turn off the machines at 5pm on Friday, lock up for the weekend and come back on Monday. You can’t do that with horses to feed and exercise. Animals are labour intensive and always have been. It has never been a nine to five job. No-one understands that better than Clifford whose alarm goes off at 4.45 each morning.
We have changed things this season so that our staff work one weekend on and two off. That isn’t always easy to arrange because Saturday is often our most important day and of course we have Sunday racing too.
In a marvellous acceptance speech Clifford spoke of his pride at receiving his award from a great sport which he has loved all his life.
He joined Team Ditcheat in 1996, has been my right hand man ever since, is as enthusiastic as ever, and is keen to find one more Gold Cup winner to add to the five he has been so closely involved with.
The previous weekend at the annual Point-to-Point awards dinner my daughter Olive received her trophy for being the champion female novice rider. To ride ride eleven winners in her first season at the age of 16 was quite an achievement and I’m proud of her progress.
Back on the racecourse I thought Pic D’Orhy was superb in winning the Intermediate Chase at Newton Abbot on Saturday. He had a lot to do carrying 11st 12lbs, was brilliant at his fences and kept galloping. He is good in small fields of runners and will probably run next in an Intermediate Chase at Sandown over three miles or the Grade 2 Chase at Ascot over two miles, five furlongs at Ascot.
Hermes Allen has not shown much at home since joining us after winning a Point-to-Point in Ireland. But he looked good as he won with any amount in hand on his debut for us at Stratford.
A lot of the good horses are like that. Denman and Silviniaco Conti were ones who reserved who reserved all their best work for the racecourse. Neptune Collonges, our Grand National winner, was another. Hermes Allen certainly looked to have a bright future at Stratford. We will find another similar race for him with a penalty then step him up in grade.
I was hopeful for a big run from Silent Revolution at Newton Abbot but he slipped going into an early fence and pulled up sore having pulled some muscles. He will be fine and we will put a line through that run
I was delighted with Sabrina in the handicap hurdle and she now goes straight to the Richard Barber Memorial Hurdle at Wincanton in three weeks time, a race for fillies .
What we need more than anything is plenty of rain this week and there is some promise of that in the latest forecasts. As it is currently good to firm at Cheltenham I may not have any runners there on Friday and maybe only a couple on Saturday while you couldn’t be sure at this stage if Wincanton will go ahead on Sunday.
For all the up to date news on my weekend runners please be sure to check out my Betfair column which goes live on Friday and Saturday afternoon.

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