STABLE HITS A TOUCH OF FORM.

In recent weeks the form of a lot of the horses in my stables has taken a turn for the better. There is no doubt that after getting away to a flying start in 2009 when we won the Perth Cup with Guyno, things did not go the way we planned for the rest of the season. A combination of bad luck, injuries, viruses, and the seemingly never ending list of slow horses just made last year one I would prefer to put behind me.

There is an old saying which goes something like "The harder I work, the luckier I seem to get". This is usually fairly true and correct in most things we do however there is also an old saying which goes "It is hard to get out of them what the good lord failed to put into them". When it comes to race horses, it doesn't matter how hard we work or how hard we try, if they ain't got it they ain't got it!!! No matter how hard we work with a team of slow horses, it is very hard to get results.

Since racing switched back to Ascot in October and even more so over the past month, we have started to produce some nice winners again. There is no doubt we have stepped out some nicer horses however it is more than just a coincidence that the stables fortunes have improved since my son Dion and his girlfriend Sarah have returned from there overseas trip. They both headed of to work in top stables in the U.K. during the English flat season before both working in the Melbourne stables of David Hayes and Peter Snowden respectively. Both have gained plenty of experience and it is a big relief to have them both back on the team. Sarah has gained a heap of knowledge and experience since joining my stables over three years ago and I am able to leave the everyday running of things at the stables to her.

Dion is already proving to be a great asset to my stables and as we all know there is nothing like working with family. Having Dion around takes a lot of pressure off me and enables me to get out and look at horses in pretraining or the spelling paddock without having to worry about things back home, at track work or on race day. In fact after my latest little altercation at the races which cost me a couple of grand, I have decided to put him in charge of post race interviews in future to lessen the chances of me getting into trouble. I may even get to take another trip to Italy sometime in the next couple of years. This time I hope to stay a bit longer.