Two year olds returning from working on the Trial ground gallops

Starshine, Knockdolian and Thistle Stikk

Knockdolian

Brunston

Cityscape with Steve Drowne

Lucy Limelites

Embezzle runs this afternoon at Goodwood at 2.35pm and may take an ' Act of God' to win but he has been equipped with blinkers and Jimmy Fortune who is one of the strongest jockeys riding at present. Sadly he doesn't yet match his pedigree but in time he will find his level.

Sugar Beet did the business in good style, making nearly every furlong post a winning post.  She loves the current fast ground and gets the trip really well and having 5lb in hand was spot on. She may run again but sadly she is eventually heading to the Horses In Training Sales at Newmarket. She's a tough filly, lost only 7 kg and ate up over night.

Sugar Beet  has been raised ll lbs this morning by Matthew Tester, the two year old handicapper to a rating of 73 and she runs this afternoon at Folkestone off a rating of 68 which includes her 6lb penalty so in theory she should have a chance of following up. She showed plenty of speed when winning at Lingfield over 6 furlongs on the polytrack and I hope that 5 furlongs isn't too sharp for her this afternoon.

Home Advantage won ' the five ' in game style. I am very pleased and proud of him, he keeps improving and he is a pleasure to train. I am also very grateful to his owner Mr. Abdullah who is going to keep him in training for another season. I have no plans to run him again this year, as he deserves a break.

Home Advantage is attempting to win his fifth race of the year which is never easy to achieve in handicap company. The last and only time that I won five races in a year was with Kind the dam of the exciting "Frankel" and  "Bullet Train" in 2004.  He has been an easy and straightforward horse to train, stays well and has a turn of foot, so fingers crossed for this afternoon.

Another busy day with runners at Ayr, Newmarket and Newbury which resulted in a winner, a second and a fourth in the big race at Ayr.  We have now passed last seasons total of 36 winners by 6 with a few more weeks to go, which is great for moral in the yard and  rewarding for a lot of hard work from all the staff.

Definightly was a slight disappointment for his punters but it was entirely due to the fast ground, which has never suited him, good to soft on Thursday and good to firm yesterday with the forecast rain failing to materialize.  With a big prize and at least 8lb in hand on official ratings we had to take a chance but another trainers error.  I also don't believe that by going straight down the middle of the courses made any difference, Adam Beschizza had walked the track and reported that it was far less cut up in the middle after 2 days racing and Definightly needs to be kept balanced. To be fair to him he has achieved more than most in a short time and I will discuss his future with his owner and I hope that he will remain in training for another season.

Genki remains a great star as far as I am concerned and ran another terrific race to finish 4th and taking his earnings to over 200k. A few small excuses as usual in these big sprints, the delay waiting in the stalls caused him to ' fall asleep' and miss the break again, not enough pace on the far side and then having to switch around the field didn't help. With better luck in running in he might have won on his side but nobody was going to beat Frankie or my old mate Dandy...well done to them !

Zero Money ran another good race, 2 wins and 2 seconds which has taken his rating from 77 to over 90 this season. He really loves fast ground and should continue to run well when he gets his conditions. His owner Gill Khosla must have had a great day with Genki running for them as well. I was quite sad not to have been there but quite pleased not to have made the long journey, when I heard that the return flight to Stanstead had been delayed 4 hours to midnight, good old Ryanair.

Discovery Bay had the perfect introduction to the racecourse at Newbury, travelling well through the race with plenty of horses all around him to finish 5th. He will probably run at least one more time before the end of the year and he should make a nice staying handicapper in time. 

Walcot Square travelled as if he was going to win but didn't run on as I would have hoped, maybe the blinkers didn't help.

Spoken what a 'star' he has become since his wedding tackle was removed in June, very game and still improving. He loves the fast ground and I had thought before the race that he was up against an improving group of 3 year olds from some of the top yards.Well done to Jim Crowley for giving him such a great ride. He has now won 4 of his 9 races and he has given his wonderfully enthusiastic owner much pleasure !

Marlinka ran fantastically well but did not last the last furlong and if the ground had been faster she would probably have been in the money but I was pleased and proud of her performance.

Silbury unfortunately did not settle in a slowly run race and she will need to learn how to race before we see the best of her.

Truly Asia stayed on to finish 4th and perhaps it will be worth stepping him up to 12 furlongs in the future.