Indian summer, sort of

Another busy week.  We started with the Open Day on Sunday, which was a big success, even if I've probably been struggling since then because I didn't get as much work done as I'd usually manage on a Sunday.  But it was a very good thing and a very enjoyable day too.  The weather was divine which was a bonus, and it was lovely to welcome so many people to the stable - I think it's just lovely that so many people are interested enough to come along and have a look.  So that was great - and spending a bit of time up at the Rowley Mile in the afternoon was fun too, with the highlight there being the trainers' and jockeys' show-jumping competition.

Since then it's been the usual stuff, some of it in lovely weather and some of it in rain.  Needless to say, I tend to take plenty of photographs while the sun is out, and very few while conditons are less pleasant to look at, never mind be in.  So, don't be fooled by these illustrations: we've had some divine weather in the past week, but it certainly hasn't been unbroken sunshine.  Winter is clearly on the way.  In fact, Monday was such a foul day that all one could do was wonder at the fortunate twist of fate which had meant that the Open Day was held when it was in glorious weather, rather than a day later in awful conditions.

Looking ahead, it seems as if we'll have a few more days of sunshine, even if they'll be accompanied by cold nights and, no doubt, depressingly heavy dews in the mornings.  There'll be a bit of travelling: Wolverhampton tomorrow evening (back to the winter routine of racing in the dark, which isn't much fun, with the journeys home being even less fun) and then Ripon on Saturday afternoon.  It'll be Cottesloe and Fen Lady tomorrow, and Indira (seen in the first picture) on Saturday.  I hope that Cottesloe should have a decent chance and Indira some sort of chance, notwithstanding that she needs to lift hugely from a below-par run on her resumption last month; while Fen Lady is trying to make up for lost time and will only be having the second run of her life, so might need a bit more practice yet.  She's a nice filly, though.