I hope everyone had a good Christmas and a lovely New Year. We seem to always comment on the weather but it just doesn’t seem to stop raining!!! In between the heavy downpours, we have had an excellent and very enjoyable December. We all had a lovely evening at The Firehouse for our Christmas Party the week before Christmas. It was full of games and Secret Santa and the team all had a lovely night! All the 3 year olds went for an away day at Larkhill before their two week holiday which was very satisfying to see them gallop well. 

Diamatiste went for his second run at Chaddesley Corbett on the 3rd December. He finished a pleasing 4th behind Just A Rose, who went on to be sold for £175,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sales. We went to Wadebridge on the 10th December with a strong team. Bang On Target made her seasonal debut finishing 2nd in the Intermediate. Hearts Corner was back to form and won the Restricted very well for loyal owner Becky Kealey both under Josh. Bud Succes ran in horrific conditions at Larkhill on New Years Eve to finish 5th. 

Stellar Stream ran a brilliant race when staying on well for 2nd at Lingfield on the 11th December. He galloped strongly through the line and was only beaten 1 1⁄4 lengths. A couple days later, Iris Des Issards headed to Exeter. Georgie had an unfortunate blow out on the A30 on route to the races but we were very lucky that Polly Gundry was not far behind and got Iris to the races for us. Georgie had to miss Exeter and spent the afternoon with the AA while Josh made a rapid exit from the yard to get to Exeter to sort out Iris and lead up. Luckily it all paid off and he ran brilliantly to finish 2nd by 2L. Stratton Oakmont headed to Doncaster on the 15th December. This was his first reappearance since winning at Southwell. Oak ran another consistent race to come 2nd and give the Kayley Woollacott Racing Club another fun day out! Ben Godfrey took the rides on all these occasions. 

Yard superstar, Gyllen, headed back to Taunton to try and defy a 13lb rise in the weights and a huge step up in trip. This time, partnered by Harry Cobden, he ran superbly and won easily by 1 1/2  lengths. This was a very impressive performance from both horse and jockey. Harry gave him an ice cool ride to make sure he saw the trip out only 14 days after his first win. The handicapper has not been very fair to him and he has had another 7lb rise. Hopefully we will see him out again towards the end of the month. A massive well done to owners Tom and Sally Dalley of Stables Business Park Ltd.

The New Year didn’t quite start with the bang we were hoping for. We headed to Exeter with 4 horses that we thought would all run well. Longshanks went back under rules and ran a pleasing race to finish 3rd over hurdles. Diamatiste also made his debut under rules for us. There will be plenty of improvement from him and he will learn well on the job, he finished 4th in the Novice Hurdle. Unfortunately Iris Des Issards was too bad to be true and pulled up and Stellar Stream never seemed to be going from flag fall. A mixed bag of results but they are all home safe and sound and will go again when they are ready!