Subtle hints

Long time no blog.  I’ve been out and about for a while now with no blogging time, so a fair bit to catch up on. Last Thursday I went up to Cambridge with Steve Morana, Betfair CFO.  We spent the afternoon in the offices of a small company called Featurespace – they are data analysts specialising in fraud detection.  I studied …

Everyone say Aaah

I went on a bit of a tour last week and I got a selection of photos through yesterday, so here we go.  First up – Baldovina’s foal by Dutch Art, only 2 days old; Described as very nice for a first foal.  Second up we have my 2yo Rock of Gibraltar / Duchy of Cornwall filly in training with Brian …

New kid on the block

A new addition this morning – Baldovina foaled a bay filly.  She is described to me as a very good first foal – she’s by Dutch Art. I’ve been hemmed in by snow for the last couple of days – I finally managed to escape late this afternoon.  The farm looks amazing – totally white.  The children are still off school …

The Pro-claimers

I bought another mare at Tattersalls last week – Veiled Beauty is the dam of The Cheka, and I paid 160k Guineas for her.  She’s by Royal Academy out of a decent Khaled Abdulla mare, and she’s in foal to Byron.  I’ll be cheering The Cheka on as he goes for glory in 2009. Veiled Beauty will be the fourth and …

Short squeeze

I’ve been very busy this week and I’ve had no time for blogging.  It’s all a bit odd – I’m not working any more but all of the time I’ve freed up has been filled and more.  By the time I’ve fed and dropped of the children (leave at 7:30, hour round trip), been to the gym and walked the …

Case to be answered

First things first, and the diet’s going ok – 18st3 this morning.  I’ve had a headache but nothing worse than that – I still haven’t worked out how I intend to do it, but the one thing I know I must do is break my sugar habit permanently.  Thanks all for the encouraging comments.  I’m having a fairly quiet patch …

No rest for the wicked

The story rolls on – Felon escapes the clutches of the BHA but walks straight into the arms of France Galop.  If he fails his B test and gets some more time off he will at least be able to update and release his long awaited autobiography, and it’s going to be a cracking read. I’m having a bad time betting at …

Go on Baldy

Only one runner today – Baldovina at Fontwell.  I’ll be very surprised if she wins. There’s a few I’ll be backing.  Tariq has worked out very well and looks the right sort at Longchamp.  Creachadoir apparently goes well at home.  Armenian Boy is decent in the third at Fontwell.  A friend tried to buy Malt or Mash recently but they …

Winker waits

Pete called us after Winker‘s work this morning and said he is still running a bit flat and needs more time.  We could have run him over the weekend in group company but he’s too good a horse to take liberties with.  The Middle Park is only three weeks away and that is his next target – he should be …

Baldy rides again

A poor day yesterday, and the end to a bad week of betting.  I’m going to take a break from betting fairly soon – it’s too time consuming and too much of a distraction. Baldovina makes her hurdling bow today in a pretty uncompetitive maiden.  On the face of it she has a lot going for her – she has …