A very busy few days started with picking up John and Christine McDermott from Evreux station on my way to Marion's after beaucoup de papier francaise (paperwork ) concerning houses, cars, etc in Mayenne. J and C had come for the rugby and managed to see the All Blacks (and good friend Ritchie McCaw) only once, but had enjoyed the later stages of their tour despite this. We enjoyed marvellous hospitality from Marion and Teresa (and Laura) and spend Monday looking round the establishment and horses. The bad news last week was that the beautiful blonde ROSA failed the cut (no 'breath'), so is no more. And SNOWBALL will shortly lose his maculinity. But the good news is that SIERRA has been in the cart and Bernard and Marion like her VERY MUCH. I saw her jogging and she indeed seems to have it all in both mind and body - which is very rare! As usual I confused my foals and mares in the field (almost impossible to do everyone agrees) but both TINA and TWILIGHT are developing well, the latter particularly in my considered (but not considerable) opinion. They are about to be weaned any day.
On Tuesday all 6 of us hopped into the van to accompany Quitus to St Galmier, a mere 6 hours drive away in the Auvergne (mostly at 140kph).The natives were surprised to see the Irish flag and shamrock circling the track (see pic) and without a breaker in front of him on the final turn it might have been the focus in the winner's photo. But he did an excellent race for second and there's more to come Tim!
Wednesday we took the short 2 hour trip to Enghien to see Prince Djo, with high hopes. However 2 false starts effectively did for his chances... he is a 'difficult horse' in any language. Then dropped J and C off for their last few days in Paris before returning to chez McDermott (near) Christchurch. They will be hosting Laura during part of her coming visit and so it was great that they were able to get to know each other so well.
Now back in London to pack for NZ and Sydney. So my next racing will be at Addington on 6 November, where I first went 60 years ago (gulp!)
Laura gritted her teeth and worked a pacer (ambleur) for the first time today.... and came out of the experience unscathed. (Niburu, a 6yo bay mare had the honour.) She had in fact moved straight from Kurt's (merci beaucoup mon ami) to Peter and Vicky Cowan's at Doyleston. (Christine McD is paying the price for Northern Hemisphere frivolities I think!) She has clearly settled into the routines immediately and later in the morning Peter was amazed to find her replacing a shoe lost during work. He warned Vicky that she would be confined to kitchen duties at this rate. (A bit extreme I thought, though her muffins ARE exceptionally good.) Vicky worked Trotupastorm a treat and he is fancied to follow up on Cup Day. Jack Hinton is in the last tomorrow night, drawn 7, so will be lucky to get a good 'possy'. The first four in each of three heats qualify for the final a week later. 
Laura had her first race meeting at Addington on Tuesday night, where there were two (trotting) heats of the World Drivers Championship. Christophe Martens still leads the series from Kiwi Colin de Fillipi, but displayed a bit of 'race rage' when his trotter broke in the second. The pressure may be telling! Like 99% of the rest of the world who see it Laura can't believe that horses are expected to start from a complete stand after circling for several minutes in a 10 meter box (the handicaps are at 10 metre intervals here). Incroyable!
A very busy few days started with picking up John and Christine McDermott from Evreux station on my way to Marion's after beaucoup de papier francaise (paperwork ) concerning houses, cars, etc in Mayenne. J and C had come for the rugby and managed to see the All Blacks (and good friend Ritchie McCaw) only once, but had enjoyed the later stages of their tour despite this. We enjoyed marvellous hospitality from Marion and Teresa (and Laura) and spend Monday looking round the establishment and horses. The bad news last week was that the beautiful blonde ROSA failed the cut (no 'breath'), so is no more. And SNOWBALL will shortly lose his maculinity. But the good news is that SIERRA has been in the cart and Bernard and Marion like her VERY MUCH. I saw her jogging and she indeed seems to have it all in both mind and body - which is very rare! As usual I confused my foals and mares in the field (almost impossible to do everyone agrees) but both TINA and TWILIGHT are developing well, the latter particularly in my considered (but not considerable) opinion. They are about to be weaned any day.
