November Blog 2025

October flew by. Before we knew it, it was November, but not before a few happenings!

School Runs and Random Chats

My two months of moonlighting as a yardie at Martin Keighley’s ended on the 20^th November and I bid the team a sad farewell. I really loved my time there.

Bubbly as fizzy wine, they made the greyest morning fun and were each a cog in a successful yard. They are only a small team, but are mighty in their results. Even in the short time I spent there, Martin sent out two winners at Cheltenham and was bouncing out winners and placed horses at other racecourses. The full-time staff, Molly, Jaz, Nell and Sian were lovely, as were part-timers Debs and Carina and head lad Matt ‘Foxy’ Carter is an old friend anyway. We all had many random chats!

Having dropped off my two little ones at nursery, I’d often pass Martin’s wife Belinda doing the school run to the Cotswold School with youngest son Harry and a couple of girls who had ridden out before classes started. Belinda is an example of a busy racing mum; on any given day she might drive eldest son Freddie to the races (as she did, one day, up to Sedgefield for him to ride a winner) or she’d be riding out, entertaining owners, running the office or going racing. She understood when, one morning, I had forgotten my son’s packed lunch so had to leave early to take it to his nursery. Carina Cole is another busy mum, juggling twin girls, riding out and going racing.

You might remember from last month that the Keighleys’ shiny black Labrador ‘greeted’ me each morning with suspicious barks, cheeks puffed out and hackles spiked up as if with gel. But after several weeks of treats (OK, bribes) Willow saw me as a friend, and took to frolicking up to me, tail a wagging rudder, paws dancing for her Bonios.

Summing up my spell at Keighley’s

Favourite horse to muck out: Harry, who was very cuddly and followed me round his stable, nuzzling for attention.

Favourite horse: All of them.

Funniest quote: During a conversation that I started about Prince Andrew losing his titles, someone piped up, “I met him and he was such a lech.”

Changes

On Friday 21^st, I started back at O’Neill Racing. Since the birth of our second child back in March, I’ve had to take a further step back, dropping my hours down to three days a week for the time being. I am now back in the main yard, riding out, which, mindful of my two young children, has made me nervous but so far, so good. My lots have been lovely: Let Me Go Boys, Onefournine and Clondaw Royale, who I very nearly fell off when he spooked in canter, but the invisible hand of fate pushed me back into the saddle and returned my foot to the stirrup.

I also like seeing the horses that have lived down the pens in the past: beautiful Savvy who won three on the bounce, Beady whose shaggy coat earnt him another nickname of ‘Goat Coat’ and Billy who finished second at the Festival two years ago. I’ll always hold a fondness for the ones that lived under my care in the past.

There have been big expansions down the pens, enabling more horses to be trained from there. Latest additions include a new field shelter, shipping container for feed and equipment, Wi-Fi and a real drive replacing the muddy track.

I’ll miss the pens. I’ll miss the sunrises, the foxes yelping and owls hooting in the dark woods, going to catch the horses in the beam of my headtorch, the reflective strips on their rugs glowing and trying to make every horse happy. I’ll miss looking after my favourites, especially Monbeg Genius and Fortunate Man. It’s hard to be pulled between my babies and work – and obviously the babies come first. The pens are in good hands with long term head lad Johnny Kavanaugh.

Past Sunrises at The Pens

Saturday Racing              

In early November, most of the horses ran below par and only one won. It became obvious there was a virus going through the yard, so the Boss made the difficult decision to lock down. A lot of blood tests were done, and their workload was cut if the results showed they weren’t quite right. This also meant we had no runners, so we were at home, watching the Saturday racing instead of taking part. Passions still ran high even at home, and none more so than on a winter afternoon with Newbury, Newcastle, Bangor and Donny. The Fighting Fifth had us shouting at the screen when Constitution Hill guessed and fell and then The New Lion tumbled, leaving Golden Ace to win.

As the horses began to feel better, there were many bucking and squealing, and a few riders fell off the fresh ones!

Golden Ace winning at Newcastle

I didn’t steal it – honest

There isn’t much that our main maintenance man Madalin Marian ‘Doc’ Radu can’t fix. On receiving a woolly hat and glove set for our son, I realised the security tag was still attached. So, I took it to Doc, who was tinkering in his workshop, explaining that I didn’t steal it. He cast me a skeptical glance, laughed and five minutes later, gave me the hat back, having wiggled the tag off with pliers.

I cannot wait until we start having runners again and, hopefully, we can catch up on the winners that we’ve missed out on. December is here and 2025 is on its final furlong – let’s make it a good one.