Sunshine and showers

Anyone who watched Cheltenham on television on Sunday (let alone anyone unfortunate enough to have been there) will have worked out that the sun doesn't always shine on horsemen. We've rather become used to thinking that, once it starts raining in the autumn, it will rain, other than on days when it is too cold to rain, more or less constantly until the following summer (when if we are lucky it will be replaced by intermittent showers), but in this instance our worst fears have not been realised. The photograph of Martha riding our yearling three-parts sister to Parasol which Emma attached to the previous chapter of this blog shows glorious sunshine, and against all odds the sun is shining again now. We've had a lot of rain between then and now, but as long as the sun continues to come out intermittently we shall not complain too much. Winter's arriving but we'll get through it.

One of the reasons why we know that winter is here is because the Southfields grass canters are open. They are always one of winter's compensations, because that large area of Heath is a great training ground and it is a pleasure to have it at our disposal from the end of the flat season until roughly the next year's Grand National meeting. David had been round the main circuit (roughly a mile and three-quarters) the past couple of days on My Obsession, who really loves cantering on soft turf, but Hugh and I hadn't yet had the pleasure this autumn, so it was great this morning when the three of us cantered around it. I rode Ex-Con in the bitless bridle which I am using on him as an experiment on behalf of the manufacturers of this good innovation and which seems a very effective and kind way of controlling a horse, and Hugh rode Lady Suffragette, who is none the worse for her non-achieving outing at Bangor last week. So that was really nice: three happy horses and three happy riders, despite the rain which was falling at the time.

So I'll be seeing plenty of Southfields when I'm outside, and I hope I'll be seeing plenty of our cats when I'm indoors: it has been the norm in recent years for only Sebastian/Sid to spend time indoors, but the onset of winter seems to have persuaded both Alamshar and Giant to join us in the evenings, which is great. If there is one thing better than falling asleep in the armchair in the evening with one cat on one's lap, it is doing so with two there (and sometimes a greyhound)!

And what is even better is seeing some of the world's best horses, which is what I had the pleasure of doing yesterday. Thanks to the kindness of Tony Le Brocq, I am the custodian of Minnie's Mystery, a daughter of Highest Honor whom I originally bought as a yearling at Doncaster October Sale I would guess around nine years ago and who raced for Tony with great distinction in Jersey for several years, her many wins there including the Derby and the Guineas. She is carrying her first foal who, sentiment (and logic, because he does do very well from his limited opportunities) dictated is by Largesse.

It is time to be thinking about who should be chosen as her next mate, and Doyen (pictured) is a horse I really like. So Lisa-Jane Moeran was kind enough to show him to Emma and me at Dalham Hall Stud yesterday, and the treat was made even better as the tour also included inspections of the three new residents: Authorized, Echo Of Light and Shamardal (who was formerly standing at Kildangan Stud). They are four smashing horses. Shamardal is just so strong and powerful. Doyen always was a mighty horse and now, in maturity, he is just magnficent. Echo Of Light is a grand horse, big and rangey, and much more like his wonderful father (Dubai Millenium) than his paternal half-brother Dubawi. Authorized, whom we know to be a lovely horse, is the only one of the four that one could have called a disappointment, because just now he looks as if he has just arrived home from the Western Front: he evidently put his heart and soul into his tremendous three-year-old campaign and just now he looks completely washed out. Seeing him now, it's hard to believe that he was capable of running in the Arc last month, so it is easy to understand why he ran so far below the tremendous form he had shown in the summer. It is better to remember him as he looked in the summer - truly magnificent - and then to realise that, with the excellent care that the stallions receive there, he will look equally good again in the fullness of time once he's got his strength back. So that was a lovely way to spend part of an afternoon, and the treat just got better on the way out as we were able to say 'G'day' to another Derby winner: Lammtarra, who is spending his days luxuriously in honourable (and arguably premature) retirement there.