Posted in Berts Horses, Better Together, Ours on May 24th, 2008 10 Comments »
The Irish Guineas comes around, and Winker is still on the sidelines. I’d love him to be taking them on, but he’ll have to wait a little longer. On paper it’s a rematch between New Approach and HenrytheNavigator, but the Irish Guineas doesn’t always follow the script.
Last year the winners of the English Guineas, Cockney Rebel […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Prince Ary, Big Paddy, Ours on May 14th, 2008 5 Comments »
Jane and I had an excellent day out on Monday when we had a tour of a couple of stud farms in the Newbury area.Â
We dropped the children off early and I gave the dog a quick walk. I’d ordered a driver for the day and we left home at around 9:30 - an hour later we […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Big Paddy, Ours, Kings Head, Effingham on Apr 27th, 2008 2 Comments »
I’ve had jumpers running over the last few days with no luck In truth it’s been a pretty disappointing jumps season - some fairly expensive purchases have run poorly, the only real high point having been Mon Michel winning a few months ago. I’m pretty happy with what I have for the flat this year though […]
Posted in Horse Racing, Berts Horses, Big Paddy, Ours on Apr 23rd, 2008 2 Comments »
Max One Two Three did an important piece of work this morning, and was scoped afterwards. She worked really nicely and scoped clean - we are now bang on for the 1,000. She will have one more piece of work early next week and that will be it. She is a very decent filly with a […]
Posted in Horse Racing, Berts Horses, Furtive Glance, Big Paddy, Better Together, Theophrastus, Ours, Mon Michel, Shawhill, Effingham, Bouguereau, Winker Watson, Lord Snooty on Apr 10th, 2008 6 Comments »
It’s a big time of year as an owner, and there are highs and lows. Aintree was ultimately a real mix, and there was a lot of good and bad on Saturday. I didn’t go up as I was at AFC Wimbledon for a match that my wider family were sponsoring in memory of my great uncle, who […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours, Mon Michel, Shawhill, Bouguereau on Mar 19th, 2008 3 Comments »
Back from a long week at Cheltenham and a lot to catch up on.
Mon Michel didn’t run his race. He needs to come off a strong pace and there was no pace on early. He needs half decent ground and he didn’t get it. The horse is fine and he’ll be winning again soon. I […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Big Paddy, Ours on Feb 29th, 2008 6 Comments »
I’ve finally got myself sorted with a reliable internet connection, and I can get back to my blogging. It’s been a busy week.
Last week I finally moved into my farm - 330 acres in the rolling Surrey countryside.  Four woods making 55 acres, one decent sized lake, six ponds and a little brook running through the middle. They […]
Posted in Horse Racing, Berts Horses, Ours, Mon Michel, Ollie Fliptrik on Jan 5th, 2008 3 Comments »
Paul Cole thinks Ollie Fliptrik will run ok but is an unlikely winner. Nick is positive about Ours - he’s fine in himself, he should get through the testing ground and we’re looking for a big run. Nick has two others today which will run ok and although either could win I don’t advise backing them.
Mon Michel […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours, Mon Michel, Ollie Fliptrik on Jan 4th, 2008 4 Comments »
I weighed myself yesterday morning, and only two days into my diet I was down 7lb at 18st3. The gastroenteritis diet really works! Sadly this morning, my stomach having recovered, I was back up to 18st6 - still 4lb down but not the miracle I was looking for.Â
On the subject of weight it was interesting to […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours, Mon Michel, Ollie Fliptrik on Jan 3rd, 2008 3 Comments »
A new year dawns, and it’s going to be a very different one for me away from Betfair for the first time in over eight years. I’m struggling to find things to do at the moment, which is very different from having loads to do but not doing it.
One thing I can do is concentrate on […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours, Shepherds Warning on Dec 31st, 2007 3 Comments »
Phew. I decided that having not backed Shepherd’s Warning last time I’d have a proper go at her this time. She got home and she wasn’t claimed - a win double. The RP marked the run at 65, 3lb below her last run, commenting that she was “not exactly progressive”. Richard Kingscote told us that […]
Posted in Horse Racing, Berts Horses, Ours, Shepherds Warning on Dec 28th, 2007 3 Comments »
Ugh. This season is going from bad to worse - it’s the fourth time I’ve decided to have a big bet on a horse the day before the race only to change my mind on the day and then see it win (others were Osana, Twist Magic, Denman). I think I suffer from having too much […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours, Mon Michel, Shepherds Warning on Dec 26th, 2007 3 Comments »
A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL
It’s been a fairly low key Christmas for me this year in as far as Christmas with four small children can be. My side of the family come round tomorrow - 18 of them with 11 children, which may get a little noisy.Â
I’ve been to church a couple of times this year, […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Better Together, Ours, Mon Michel on Dec 21st, 2007 5 Comments »
Day 2 of life outside of Betfair, and already bored and depressed - after years of being institutionalised within Betfair I feel lost and alone, like Brooks in the Shawshank Redemption. I’m contemplating carving my name on a rafter in my office and hanging myself with my Betfair tie. Goodbye cruel world.
But there’s no great rush as […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours, Mon Michel, Ollie Fliptrik on Dec 3rd, 2007 2 Comments »
At last!! I’ve been saying for a long time that Mon Michel is a decent result waiting to happen, and it’s gratifying to finally have a decent win to prove the case. I thought he ran an excellent race, finding just a little extra at the end when asked, which is something he hasn’t really […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours on Nov 24th, 2007 No Comments »
A great day’s racing today with a lot of questions to be answered.
The feature race of the day is the Betfair Chase at Haydock - I was going to go up but it’s difficult with the children. Kauto Star looks to repeat his victory from last year, and is odds on at the moment. I have him […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours on Nov 22nd, 2007 6 Comments »
Apologies for the aftertiming, but what was McClaren playing at last night? I’m no expert on football, but yesterday’s game was the most important and high pressure game played in England for years - on occasions like this experience carries a lot of weight and youthful exuberance very little. I spent most of yesterday puzzling why […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours, Mon Michel on Nov 19th, 2007 2 Comments »
I had trouble accessing the blog over the weekend and wasn’t able to post. This was probably a good thing as I gave Mon Michel a squeak in his pipe opener - he ran vaigly ok, finishing in mid division having tired on the ground and through the odd mistake. We’ll be aiming him at the […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours, Shepherds Warning on Nov 9th, 2007 2 Comments »
A long day yesterday. It’s been a while since I’ve made it to the racecourse so I decided to take a day out - it isn’t a disaster for me work wise as I can work from home in the morning and I always get a lot done on my Blackberry when I take the train. […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours on Nov 7th, 2007 1 Comment »
Three runners today, which is a first for me. Ours makes his debut in the 1:55 at Chepstow - he wasn’t a cheap purchase but 2 mile hurdles are not going to be his game. Nick doesn’t have a clear view on how he will run as he’s working well some times and not so […]
Posted in Berts Horses, Ours, Mon Michel, Shepherds Warning on Nov 2nd, 2007 2 Comments »
I’m pretty much done for the flat season now and looking to the jumpers. Mon Michel was down to run tomorrow, but he doesn’t stand his ground after working moderately midweek - we think he’s ok but just needs a little more time. My first runner of the jumps season proper will probably be Ours […]
Posted in Horse Racing, Berts Horses, Big Paddy, Better Together, Theophrastus, Ours on Oct 18th, 2007 3 Comments »
I visited Nick Gifford’s yard in Findon on Wednesday morning to catch up with news of the four horses owned by the Core Strength syndicate of which Bert forms a third. The horses are all five year old geldings who were selected with a long term perspective and there has been little racecourse action from […]
Posted in Ours on Mar 3rd, 2007 No Comments »
Trainer: NICK GIFFORD
