Trader Jack and Steve Raymont leading Rosslyn Castle and James Doyle who were being followed by Captain Cat and Waterclock at the beginning of our valley gallop that twists and undulates over a mile and a quarter.

This is the end of the same gallop with Trader Jack  just finishing ahead of Rosslyn Castle who is due to run at Windsor on Monday afternoon.

Al Kazeem and Steve Raymont with Primevere and James Doyle and in the background, Sea of Heartbreak and George Baker, after their work yesterday around the valley gallop.

Cry Fury after his work yesterday ridden by his lad Dinesh Singh.

Another photograph of Al Kazeem who is a beautiful looking horse and I hope will make a reappearance later this month at Sandown in the Gordon Richards Stakes.

Primevere and Clare Ludlow on her way home after yesterdays work, she may make her reappearance in the Dahlia Stakes at Newmarkt on May 6th.

Our hero returned from Dubai in great shape having travelled well and lost 10 kilos in transit.  After one easy day, he has been ridden out and is back into a normal routine of cantering with the other horses.  It must have been a bit of a shock to his system with temperatures below or near zero and a strong easterly wind to go with it.  The plans for the future revolve around possibly going to Hong Kong on April 27th to run in a Group 1 race over a mile, the BMW Champions Mile on May 6th or to run perhaps at Longchamp in the Prix D'Ispahan, Group 1. There is no doubt we are extremely lucky to have such a tough and brave horse who at the age of 6 has continued to improve and it will be a real bonus if there are more races to be won with him.  The rest of the horses are in good form but I am not planning on having any runners until the Craven meeting where Genki is a possible in the Abernant Stakes which he won last year.  Top Offer went to Newbury yesterday and had a  nice easy gallop with two lead horses down the back straight in the wrong direction and it was a good to get him away from home having not run since August. We still have two weeks before the Greenham and he is progressing but it will be important for him to have a race before the 2000 Guineas as he is light on experience and he still has to prove that he is up to that standard. Unfortunately we missed out on any rain this week that seemed to be in the area and until we get a change in conditions, the horses are restricted to working on the polytrack, but hopefully the forecasters are correct and there should be rain next week.  

Happy Easter to you all.

Cityscape is now mid air and due to arrive at Stansted airport this afternoon before travelling back home to Beckhampton to a hero's welcome.  It was interesting to read that his performance in the Dubai Duty Free was rated by Timeform to be the best performance on the night with a rating of 131.  The Racing Post together with the handicapper, have both raised his rating by 4lbs to 125 which makes him the best ever progeny of his sire Selkirk. 

 What an amazing weekend we all had in Dubai, the build up to the race had all gone so well with Cityscape thriving and training so well. Even on the night, he was relaxed in temperatures that were reaching over 30 degrees and  his race was preceded by alot of noise and excitement when a small aeroplane performed some daredevil exercises above our heads.  I was immensely proud of Cityscape who has now developed into a thoroughly professional performer and rewarding Juddmonte Farms and everyone at Beckhampton with a much deserved Group One success.  Consistency has become his trademark and the turn of foot that he showed after Await The Dawn had set suicidal fractions in the early part of the race, was immensely  impressive.  In a few strides, he put the race to bed and in the process smashed Mahbooba's course record.  He certainly gave me the impression that 10 furlongs could be within his range which opens up several more possibilities for his future races. No decisions have been made at the moment but there are races in Hong Kong, Singapore and France during May that will go into the melting pot. One thing is for sure, he is unlikely to be running in the same races as the brilliant Frankel, but at the age of 6, he has developed into a very high class racehorse with a wonderful temperament and with the ability to take travelling long distances in his stride.  We all feel extremely sorry for Steve Drowne who must have found the race very difficult to watch having ridden him so many times to victory in the past and I hope that he gets over his setback as soon as possible.  It was a dream start for James Doyle to win his first Group race in such style ! 

Cityscape continues to please and had another bowl of food at 11 pm last night and seems to be thriving out in Dubai. He went to the track at 6 am this morning and was ridden by James Doyle  and they completed a circuit on the turf together. All the training has now been done and we await with "bated breath" to see how the race unfolds tomorrow.  It was a great pleasure this morning to see so many exciting horses being trained on the track and Aidan O'Brien's group which were led by  So You Think,  all looked in good shape.  I walked the turf track and the Racing Authority have done an excellent job as there is plenty of grass and it is in good order.

So far so good with Cityscape and all the reports from Steve Raymont who is with him in Dubai are encouraging. He travelled well without losing any weight and is eating and drinking as expected, this morning he went out and had a trot and tomorrow he is likely to do a canter with James Doyle.

Secretarial Vacancy

I will be requiring a racing secretary to start  in the summer, who will be responsible for entries, declarations, liaising with Weatherbys and the IRB, booking jockeys, transport, health and safety compliance, staff issues, updating the website etc.,  Excellent secretarial skills and good written English are important, together with an opportunity to ride out.  CV's to be emailed in confidence to r.charlton@virgin.net

Cityscape completed his final piece of work over 7 furlongs on the summer gallops at Beckhampton on Saturday morning,  and he finished well clear of his lead horse. He is on his correct racing weight and he seems to have had a good preparation, although it is not easy to prepare a horse to run in the most valuable race of his life having not run since Hong Kong in December.  As in Hong Kong, when he was drawn wide he has not been blessed with a particularly helpful draw of 11 of 16 for Saturday's race.  He was picked up this morning at 4 am by Marlborough transport and I understand they left on time from Stansted at 10 am.  I gather that it had rained in Dubai this morning but that the temperatures are expected to rise from the mid 20's to the high 30's by the weekend so there will be plenty of sweaty horses as well as people no doubt ! 

By this time next week, I hope Cityscape will have arrived happily in Dubai as he is scheduled to fly from Stansted on Monday morning. He will do his final piece of work here on Saturday morning and if all goes well, he is an intended runner in the Dubai Duty Free, a $5m Group 1 race over 9 furlongs on the turf.  At present, there is a likely field of 16 runners which include three good horses from Hong Kong;  Ambitious Dragon (NZ) who has won 10 of his 17 races including five Group 1's, Californian Memory (USA) who has won two Group 1's which included the Hong Kong Cup in December and Xtension (IRE) who has twice been beaten a length and a quarter by Ambitious Dragon (NZ) recently and was a neck behind Cityscape in the Hong Kong Mile.  Presvis is trying to repeat last years success in the race and Aiden O'Brien runs Await the Dawn (USA) who was an impression winner of the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot last summer. The field also has Dubawi Gold,  who ran so well behind Cityscape in Hong Kong and the other possible runners are;  City Style, Dark Shadow (JPN), Delegator, Musir (AUS), Mutahadee (IRE), Planteur (IRE), Rajsaman (FR), Rio De La Plata (USA), and Wigmore Hall (IRE). Cityscape looks well and he has had a good preparation here during the winter which included a mile gallops at Kempton last week but most of the opposition have had a race recently so not an easy task !

Cityscape

Spring is in the air, temperatures are rising and the horses are starting to go faster ! Touch wood, so far so good as we emerge from Winter into another exciting flat season. Most of the horses have been in a good routine as they gradually move up a gear into fast work, the ground is good although like most of the country we will need some rain fairly soon. We have no running plans at the moment but I hope the majority of the horses will be ready to run by the middle to end of April.

Cityscape on a frosty morning

Coming out for exercise

Returning home from exercise

Trader Jack leading Clowance Estate and Bishop Roko

Recent photographs taken on a very cold morning