Snow's OK until it melts

Snow's OK until it melts. That is one of life's truisms, along with 'There's no place like home when you're not feeling well'. We've had plenty of opportunity this week to assess the various stages of the snowflake's life, because we've had plenty of them, coming and going. When we've had a slight thaw we have been able to find out how really unpleasant things are when the snow does melt, but then we've just kept having more falling, and now we have both snow and re-frozen melted snow on the ground. But it's been fun - and if I can ever learn how to upload photographs to this blog, I might be able to illustrate the point. Heavy snowfalls are spectacular, and sunny snowscapes are spectacular; and we've had both.

What we've also had recently are some pieces of good news. This week it has been announced that Hugh has made the final three in his category in the Godolphin Stable Staff of the Year Awards. That's great, with a prize and a good day out guaranteed whether he finishes first, second or third. And there was I saying we couldn't win! No, fair play to Owen Byrne for making sure that this year wasn't the first one when I hadn't nominated someone, and most pertinently fair play to Hugh for being a very worthy nominee. It'll be fun seeing how the closing stages go, and I'll keep you posted.

Last week's piece of good news was that my broodmare Minnie's Mystery (who was so kindly given to me by Tony Le Brocq at the end of her long racing career and who is now resident at Haras de la Cauviniere in Normandy) had a colt foal on Australia Day, January 26th. She has an impeccable breeding record thus far: two seasons at stud, conceived first time both times before going on to produce a healthy colt foal eleven and a bit months later. She will now visit Darley's young Sunday Silence stallion Layman, I presume in the second half of this month. I'd set my heart on the name After The Goldrush (I'd have to make Goldrush one word to keep within the eighteen-character limit) for a Gold Away colt in deference to Neil Young's beautiful song, but with the colt being born on Australia Day should I incorporate an antipodean aspect to the gold? Something about Ballarat? We've got a while to mull over it, but not too long a period because in France it is the norm to name foals when they are registered, which will happen later this year. He's looks a beautiful little chestnut boy, with an Apache Cat-type partially white face. I see no evidence that he, unlike his year-older Largesse half-brother Grey Panel, will turn grey, but I haven't seen him in person yet; I hope that that will happen at some point within the next small amount of months.

We now have a further piece of good news because Squeak, with whose name many of you will be familiar, called me yesterday from Sweden with the good news that, having ridden his tenth winner this week, he has now had his claim reduced from 4-kg to 3-kg. That's, admittedly, not much of a step for mankind, but it's a big step for this particular little man, and, as is usual when I receive good news from Squeak, I was delighted with both the news and the hearing of it, if that makes sense.

We are, of course, waiting for the latest milestone for a rather more famous jockey. A couple of weeks ago AP McCoy rode his 3,000th winner, so now we await his 3,000th National Hunt winner (he has ridden something like ten on the Flat). What will then happen is that we will have his 3,000th jumps winner (he's probably ridden maybe 100 bumper winners, so his 3,000th jumps winner should come around September). And then we'll have his 2,000th hurdles winner (might already have had it), his 1,000th steeplechase winner (ditto) etc. The media frenzy has extended to trying to nominate 'the next AP', if there can be such a thing, and Paul Townend has obviously been highlighted as a hugely promising young jockey. For what it's worth, though William Kennedy will do for me, and I was rather disappointed (but unsurprised, if that isn't too much of a paradox) that he wasn't one of the jockeys mentioned in the list of future stars. He, of course, is no longer a claimer, and perhaps the list was concentrating more on claimers, but really it is amazing that his skills aren't more recognised. Every time he has ridden for us, the horse has run as well as possible and has been ridden as well as possible, and you can't give a jockey any higher praise than that. So he'd be my tip to make future headlines, although sadly poor William will need to catch the attention of people more influential than I am if he is to make the transition to the height of fashion. If there is any justice he'll make it but.

I should also add at this point that I was very happy with Alex Merriam when he rode Ex Con last Sunday; it was his first ride for the stable, but I would be surprised were it to prove his last.

And finally, it's hats off time to a couple of worthy recent winners. When last year I gave my nominations for my corrected list of National Hunt Icons, I think I omitted the former National Hunt Jockey A. B. "Scobie" Coogan. This was a bad omission, because Scobie is one of racing's greatest identities. Make that one of life's greatest identities. You name it, he's done it, and he's done it by hard work and with a smile on his face. I was delighted to bump into him on the Heath one day last week (he trains on the outskirts of Soham, around six miles away, so the Heath isn't his usual habitat these days) riding a horse who looked great, and was unsurprised to be told that that was his lovely home-bred sprinter Matsunosuke (named after a breed of carp, Scobie being the most respected judge of koi carp outside Japan, and one of probably the very few people - possibly the only person - to be invited to Japan to judge at carp shows there). I was then unsurprised the following day to see that the horse had won yet again, off a rating I think of 102, so Scobie's ongoing success with this horse really is something which deserves to be (belatedly) highlighted here.

Other plaudits go out to Chris Dwyer, for whom 2009 is so far going as swimmingly as 2008 went, thanks to Whisky Creek already having won four races since the start of the year. That's a very good achievement indeed. Hats off too to Jeff Pearce, whose string has been in great form recently, and to Gabriel Hannon, pretty much the archetypal battler and a really nice guy to boot, who rode a double at Southwell yesterday.