Thoughts on things

It's been a while. How many times have I said that on this blog? Let's face it, I'm just a rubbish blogger. My only defence is that as I'm supposed to earn my living from writing (ha!) the very last thing I want to do of an evening is sit down in front of my computer.

Mind you, the view from my desk has improved greatly. I have finally got round to doing what I've been putting off for about 18 months: office tidying. With that came a bit of a restructure and my desk is now at the window looking out over Warren Hill (with Waitrose spoiling the view but let's gloss over that). As my office was once a hayloft I also have the vantage point of looking down over the yard and seeing the very pretty heads of our two-year-old fillies First Pressing and Silken Thoughts and, if I really crane my neck, I can see my boys Oscar and Panto.

Cheltenham has probably been done to death but I can't remember being more rocked by a race than by this year's Gold Cup. I also greatly enjoyed the performances of Soldatino, Peddlers Cross and a back-to-form Quevega.

The yard is overflowing with new faces: Steph, Rodney, Eva, Max, all of whom will become better known on this site in coming weeks. Tomorrow morning we are lucky enough to have Seamus Durack in to school Ex Con and She Is A Cracker and then Micky Fenton (pictured, left, with Steph) to give the two-year-olds a bit of a spin. Then there's the dentist. Every silver lining has a cloud.

One last wish is for anyone who cares about the future of Newmarket and is in the vicinity on Thursday night to come along to the extraordinary planning meeting which will decide whether or not Lord Derby's plans for a major development on Hatchfield Farm gets the go-ahead. Anybody with the interests of Newmarket as a major training centre at heart cannot back this terrible scheme. Let's hope the council sees sense.