After the frustrating race on Sunday evening at Kempton when Style Award met trouble in running it was great for Bel Cantor to win at Southwell on Tuesday. He made all to win a competitive Class 3 - 7f sprint under Kelly harrison. It was Bels 11th win and took his career earnings through the £100k barrier. I cannot express how much we owe this horse.

We have spent a lot of time at Southwell over the past week or so and we are back there again tomorrow with Guto and Davana. Guto should have a good chance from a good draw. He is 8lb better off against the favourite after finishing 2nd behind him last week and if he is in the mood he should go very close.

Davana is more an opportunity to try the longer trip on fibresand in what is not a great race. We ran her over the longer trip before but we made too much use of her too early and she didnt get home. This time we will be more restrained with her and see how she handles it.

Bel Cantor is entered at Southwell again on Sunday in a Class 4 7f handicap and we will see how he is at home. He seems to have come out of the race very well.

First blog for a while purely down to workload. The past week has been a successful yet frustrating week and mainly spent at Southwell. We had 6 runners at Southwell through the week and only one did not make the frame. Colorus ran twice, he won a nice Class 4 sprint and then was also 3rd later in the week. Guto also ran twice and had a 3rd and then a 2nd later in the week. Bel Cantor finished 2nd in the Class 3 6f sprint but Davana was out of the money in her mile handicap.

The only other runner was tonight at Kempton where Style Award finished 3rd, she met trouble and then ran on strongly and although she was making ground quickly the line came too soon. That finished off the week with a frustrating yet pleasing run. Its winners that count and to only get one for the week with all the opportunities was disappointing. 7 runners in the week and we had one winner, one 2nd and four 3rds. However as the cliche goes 'at least they are running well'.

Not the most romantic Valentines Day for Elena as we did all the yard work this morning and then headed off to Kempton. Not long back and just collected a Chinese take away and ready to watch the racing replay and plan the week ahead.

I will try and blog again this week as Bel Cantor has a good chance in a nice race at Southwell on Tuesday. Guto should have a chance on Thursday although obviously we dont know the final runners until Tuesday morning.

Just a Sunday evening catch up Blog. Not a bad week although no winner so not that good either. I ran Bel Cantor and Colorus in same race at Southwell on Tuesday and they both ran really well. They both picked up prizemoney and Colorus was out of the handicap and Paul Pickard after much sweating did well to put up only a 1lb overweight. I would say that was probably Colorus best run for a few years even though he did not win.

I now run both horses again in a similar race back at Southwell this Tuesday. Colorus is now in the handicap and also needs to run before his handicap is reviewed Tuesday morning. He will take some beating from draw 5 off 4lb less than his last run and with Paul claiming the full 5lb. Bel Cantor goes as there is no suitable 6f race for him at Wolves or Southwell until well into the New Year and he is so well in himself at present. Although 4th last week he ran very well as he was up against 5f horses and 5f is not his ideal trip. Southwell is probably the only all weather he could be competitive on over the minimum trip. He is drawn in 1 this week and I wouldnt rule him out either.

Davana was unlucky at Southwell yesterday (Saturday) when she stayed on well up the straight to finish 3rd at 20/1 and was only beaten 1 lgth.

One of the lads, Pat Walsh, came in this morning to give Jiminor Mack her second schooling session over hurdles and she will be ready to have her hurdling debut in the next couple of weeks.

Last night Colorus was unlucky to get beaten at Wolverhampton in the last few strides. He finished 2nd to Anne of Kiev which is ironic as Colorus was led up at the races by my wife, Elena (of Kiev). We said before the races that with Elena being from Kiev it would be ironic if that one beat us and so it turned out. I remember Bel Cantor running in a Class 2 sprint last year at Haydock and we said the same before the race about Valery Borzov who is named after the famous Ukrainian Olympic Sprinter and that beat us into 2nd also.

Well it was a pleasing run anyway by Colorus and both he and Bel Cantor are in good form and should be going to Southwell on Tuesday for the Class 3 5f sprint.

Not a blog totally about horses, in fact mostly about darts! What a performance by Phil 'The Power' Taylor when winning the Grand Slam of Darts last night. Work permitting I have been watching the darts whenever I can and last nights performance was one of the most professional sporting performances I have seen for a long time. I watched with admiration and enjoyed every throw. I was willing the dart into the double 12 as a nine dart finish would have been the perfect way to finish the final after already earlier had a 170 checkout. Congratulation to Phil.

Now onto racing! Bel was unlucky at Wolverhampton on Saturday night. He finished 2nd beaten a neck carrying top weight. Not many entries this week. I will have something running to Wolves on Saturday evening.

A good day today with the yearlings having their first hack canters up Hamilton Hill polytrack. Sarah and Pat have done a good job with them and everything went to plan despite the gusty weather.

Bel Cantor declared for Saturday at Wolverhampton and got a decent draw in 4 so he should have a good chance of following up on his Southwell win last week. He is in good form anyway and is ready to run again.

Jethro Bodine who won at Redcar early in the season had a niggling injury but he seems fine now and is not far off being ready to get back on track.

A special week for the yard after Bel Cantor won the 10th race of his career. This horse holds a special place in the yard. He was my first runner as a trainer. He was my first winner as a trainer just over 3 years ago when winning his maiden at his favourite course, Pontefract. He was part of my first double when winning back at Pontefract at the end of July 2008. He has won at Southwell, Kempton and Wolverhampton. He has won on heavy ground through to fast ground. He has won nearly £100k in prize money to date and without him I am sure I wouldnt be training now.

My wife, Elena, has looked after Bel since he arrived at our yard as a 2yo after I claimed him from a Brighton Seller at the back end of his 2yo career. Elena rides him in all his work and leads him up at the races. It was a thrill for us both to see him hit the 10 winner mark and there are more wins to come.

Bels win was our 14th winner since moving to the new yard 7 months ago and we will be pushing to add to that tally before the year is finished.

Right, I had better stop typing now and I had better go and walk our Staffie Puppy as he is sitting looking at me and looking at the door! His name is Pontey, named after Pontefract Racecourse where I had my first winner.

A while since I wrote a blog as its just been very busy. The final turf races of the season, horse sales and getting the yearlings broken to name but few tasks. Colorus won well at Southwell last month and we have already overtaken last years figures for winners and prize money and we have 2 months left to add further. Our total prizemoney since starting had passed the £200,000 mark now which is a great achievement with current levels of prizemoney!

Style Award was unlucky at Wolverhampton last week when she was blocked in for most of the final furlong and finished 3rd beaten less than 2 lengths.

2yo filly by Lucky Story, Olney Lass, ran very well at Doncaster on the final day of turf season. She finished 2nd in division 2 of the 6f maiden only beaten 1/2 length by a nice colt trained by Mr Candy. She has now had her 3 runs and placed in two of them, improving with each run. She will now be put away for the Winter to strengthen up and grow. We will have a nice filly to look forward to next year.

Davana runs at Wolverhampton on Monday in a maiden which looks awful on paper so worth the chance to see of she gets the 1m4f trip. I think she will and would be disappointed if she was not placed at least.

We have shares in yearlings/older horses for sale so if anyone wants to get involved please contact me.

This week ended with a long but successful trip to Ayr. The trip was worthwhile with Guto winning at 16/1 although Bel Cantor was disappointing. A good week though as Colorus had already won on Tuesday at Yarmouth. We have already beaten last years winners tally and all but passed the prizemoney figure for last year and we will have more winners before the year is out.

It is very satsfying to see how we have made the transition to the new yard and our Southern base. We have already had winners at Brighton Festival, Yarmouth Festival and now travelled back North to win at The Ayr Gold Cup Festival.

Guto and Colorus both entered at Goodwood on Wednesday. An apprentice race and both horses would carry penalties. We will see how they have come out of the recent races and in particular how Guto has got over the long journey to and from Ayr.

I have not been making the time to complete the blog over recent weeks just through the other demands on my time but as I get organised I will get more disciplined.

A good day today as Colorus won at Yarmouth and took us past our winners tally for last year.

Bel Cantor was 2nd at Chester on Saturday on ground quicker than ideal and over 5f which is shorter than ideal so I was pleased with the performance. That is another 2nd at Chester and one of my goals has always been to have a winner at Chester, my home town and I love going back there. I have to say from an owner/trainer point of view, Chester know how to look after you and the facilities/owners area put many courses to shame. Saying that, I have not run many there as you need one that suits the track and not many races have stood out at entry stage so far.

A Chester winner remains a goal !

Well tomorrow (Saturday) is a special day for our team at Ripon and thinking back 12 months it is bittersweet and holds good and bad memories. Our Jockey, Kelly Harrison sadly lost her mother Gill this time last year and it was obviously a difficult time for Kelly, her father Alan and the family. Then at this meeting last year which was a week later on 30th August, both ourselves and Kelly had our biggest winner to date when Bel Cantor won the Class 2 - Cathedral City of the Dales Handicap.

This year Bel Cantor attempts to win the race again and both myself and Elena would love him to win again for Kelly more than for us. As is the pattern lately another bad draw for Bel with 13 of 13 but then he was 14 of 16 when he won last year so who knows. There is also a memorial race on the card which Kelly has a good ride in and we wish her good luck. The whole day will be an upbeat celebration with family and friends.

Bel is in good form as he showed at Ripon and more recently at Windsor. Hes not really an all weather horse and you can forget Kempton on Wednesday evening from draw 2, I dont think he likes Kempton and we just got away with it on his first run there as it was all new to him and it was a very average apprentice race. He won there well in a good time but has disappointed there twice since.

Hes off a light weight at Ripon and will go on the ground but the odd shower would help. He always runs well at Ripon so I would expect a big run.

I hate 2nd place and I know the cliches come out when you get a 2nd place like 'well your knocking on the door' or 'at least they are running well'. No matter what anyone says I still hate 2nd place however Eton Fables battling 2nd at Pontefract on Sunday was nearly an exception to this rule. It was very good run and an exciting 3 way battle for the spectator. Normally when I have a 2nd place I have to force myself to watch the replay however I was looking forward to getting home to watch this one. They are the sort of battles you want your horses racing in against horses from the top yards in the Country.

Our last 6 runners have finished 4-1-2-3-1-2 so they are in form.

Elena had a good birthday at Pontefract and Eton Fables owners presented her a card and gift and had even wrote a birthday greeting in Russian for her.

Bel Cantor runs at Kempton Wednesday evening and has to have a good chance. I cant get a good draw for him though and the 'draw gods' must have something against him at the moment. He was drawn 11 of 11 at Ripon then drawn low at Windsor and now 2 at Kempton.

He will still take some beating though and then he will go to Ripon on Saturday to defend the race he won last year (Class 2 - Cathedral City of the Dales Handicap).

The last week to 10 days have gone very well with 2 winners and a number of placed horses. One more winner and we will have beaten last years figure and we have relocated yard this year so I have to be pleased that the horses and team have settled in so well and we have not let the distractions of relocating stop us training winners.

Today has been a pretty uneventful day which in racing is usually a good thing. The website has just been revamped and although there is more work to do I am pleased it is live now. This is the first blog I have done and is more a test really as my computer knowledge in very average. If it works and I get into a routine I will get 'blogging' regularly.

Eton Fable runs tomorrow and after his recent Brighton win he should run well and has to have a chance. It is my wife, Elena's birthday and she will be leading Eton up and although that means we are both working on her birthday we are looking forward to it as Pontefract is a special course for us and also it will be great to spend some time with Etons Owners, The Gathering. A good run from Eton would be a suitable birthday present but he owes us nothing.

A dry day would help as the quicker the ground the better.

Well I suppose I had better check the site and see if my computer work has been successful.