Giovanna has been declared for the 7.25pm at Worcester tomorrow. The handicapper has gradually been dropping her since her two wins of last summer and she will be wearing a tongue strap for the first time, let's hope she can return to form.

As ever another busy weekend. Yesterday I was kindly invited to play golf in the Captains Day at Bowood Park in Wiltshire. Peter Deal, whose colours you will know very well, asked me to join his team of Oliver Sherwood and Warren Greatrex. Peter has been a great supporter over the years and the first horse I ever looked after in racing was owned by him. He was called Border Sun and won the Dudley Cup many times and ended up being William Haggas's hack.

All of us played good golf at times and we had a thoroughly good day. Oliver Sherwood, if you didn't know is one of the most competitive people you could ever meet and you can't beat seeing him lose his temper. He is excellent at coming out of bunkers but he does go into a lot of them so, so he should be. Warren Greatrex is a real bandit off his handicap mark. However he fell apart under pressure which is something you would think he would be used to having been Oliver's assistant.

We have now got most of the horses in from their summer break and there are just a few out in the fields who were turned out a bit later than the hothers.

This morning we had few visitors to the yard and all commented that the quality of the horses from last season seems to have been upped a bit, so we are hopeful of a good one.

This week is Goodwood Festival week which is everyone's favourite festival. It is easily the most beautiful course in the country. I always go down for a few days with Mick Barnes, Rick Allen and Charles Allan is joining us this year. We stay at the Old Stables at Fontwell Park and luckily we have a few picnics and rounds of golf lined up with owners, so it's nice to have such an entertaining job. No doubt will fill you in later in the week, especially on our annual Littlehampton ‘crazy golf challenge' which was won last year by Barnsy thanks to Phillips taking three off the tee by under estimating the windmill.

Great Hero ran a terrific race to come second in the bumper at Uttoxeter yesterday. Given a fine ride by Richard Johnson, he came to challenge two furlongs out beaten three lengths by a more experienced rival. All at Adlestrop are delighted as John and Pat Cantrill have shown so much patience with him. He is a home bred and hopefully he will be up to winning a bumper for us in the next three or four weeks.

I am now on my way back from viewing horses in Devon . We popped into Woolacombe on the way which has a wonderful beach and is the nearest I am going to get to a holiday this summer. On the way back, I visited my great friend David Wike. David and I worked together at Graham Thorner's some twenty five years ago along with greats such as Sean Woods, now training in Hong Kong and Robin Trevor Jones, travelling head lad to Ed Dunlop. Robin is the one when Ouija Board and Snow Fairy won, he threw a bucket of water straight at the horses heads and made sure he was in full view of the camera.

David used to be assistant to Martin Pipe and Jenny Pitman and so has seen a thing or two. Not only does he know his horses but is also a fine craftsman and has been helping with the Hestercombe gardens near Taunton . The place is well worth a visit if you are ever in that area.

Eastwell Smiles triumphed last night at Bangor under an inspired ride by Richard Johnson. Making all, he outstayed and out galloped his rivals in what was not the most competitive of races. The rains beforehand probably played in his favour and brought his stamina to the fore. We will see what the handicapper does with him and hopefully he will be competitive again in a few weeks time if up against the right opposition.

We were all delighted, especially for his owners Martin and Sue Harvey. As you know they sponsor our yard and Martin made the trip in the horse box with Gordy. It was certainly a different experience for our owner and one he will never forget - having to put up with Gordy's singing on the way home.

We have declared Great Hero for tomorrow in the bumper at Uttoxeter. He had one run last year when he was very weak and the ground was very soft. Hopefully he is a stronger horse this time and as long as they don't have too much rain, he should show promise.

A busy morning today with lots of visitors including Jan Hurst and two lovely ladies from Argentina , one of which bred Rio De La Plata . Barnsy discovered that they were staying in the Fox at Oddington and I was delighted to show them around the delights of Adlestrop. We also had a visit from Geoff Lansbury and Jeff McCarthy. Geoff brought along his wonderful mother Peggy who owned Lindsay with us a couple of seasons ago. Peggy is well into her nineties, as bright as a button and always enjoys her visits to Adlestrop. This was followed by lunch at Daylesford (haven't mentioned lunch for a while). Daylesford is our local organic farm shop owned by the Bamford family. We are very lucky to be so close to such a marvellous shop and I can definitely recommend a visit.

I am now on my way to Devon to look at horses and it would help enormously if the rain stopped.

Penshurst Lad ran as expected last night at Windsor . I am sure he will be better once handicapped and over a mile and half with some juice in the ground. It was a pretty hot maiden and the first two went well clear. Penshurst Lad should be competitive on the flat in the autumn, before going hurdling.

Many of the horses are now back in following their summer holiday. It is a case of building up their fitness over the next few months.

We have Eastwell Smiles running tonight at Bangor . As it is a 0-85 handicap and so it is not the best event in the world and let us hope the blinkers have a positive effect on him a second time. Ideally the trip would be a bit longer but he has an each way chance with Richard Johnson onboard.

I spent the weekend at my nephew's wedding in Lacock in Wiltshire. If you have not been to this village where Cranford and Pride and Prejudice are filmed, you have missed out. I can recommend the bed and breakfast, King John's Hunting Lodge, where Margaret Vaughn a legend, is 82 and is at Buckingham Palace today for a garden party as she has won so many awards for her tea room and bed and breakfast.

Nothing quite as annoying as a faulty fuel gauge on your way back from Scotland , with only one and a half hours today. However thanks to the AA it could have been worse.

Now back to base to see all the painting completed and the horses are now coming in from the paddocks to start the proper season ahead. Pak Jack is now ‘Fat Jack' and Tiger Line has done very well and thanks to a sunny six weeks, they look in good order. With the rain coming this should help our cause with next week's entries which include Penshurst Lad, Eastwell Smiles and Great Hero.

Off to my nephew's wedding this weekend. He is marrying a nice girl but I am sure he can change that. Anyone who came to our cricket match last year, he was the typical Phillips who selfishly played for himself and won the match for us. Luckily he looks more like Michael McIntyre than I do.

By the look of my television my head men, Mark White and Gordon Clarkson are working very hard as they keep popping in the office to see how the Open Golf is going, as they have had more bets than Harry Findlay.

Just on the way back from Scotland following yet another memorable trip for the Doncaster Sales golf tournament. As predicted I am not coming home with the trophy again this year that was won by Warren Greatrex who should enjoy his victory as his handicap will now be slashed forever.

On Tuesday evening once again we were treated to a sumptuous supper by Ray and Anita Anderson-Green. Many of you will know Ray won the Scottish National this year with Merigo ridden by his son in law, Timmy Murphy. Ray and Anita are fantastic hosts and treated all seventy of us to the best food and wine. It was a very special occasion and among the entourage were some racing greats including Gifford, Balding, Harwood, Fahy and Fitzgerald.

Yesterday I played with David Minton and Guy Harwood. Despite the rain, we had great fun and they are both great company. Today I partnered Richard Hughes and John Webb. John owned Royal Shakespeare and many other good horses whilst ‘Hughsy' is such a good bloke, he could be a jump jockey.

As you can imagine, with seventy of the great and good of racing, the banter is endless and if you don't know Richard Fahy, he could be a stand up comic if only he could stand up.

One of my favourite stories of the week was when a certain trainer put up Willie Carson at Goodwood. The trainer knew that the horse wasn't good enough to run well but the owners insisted on having a social runner. Carson 's instructions were not to try and be competitive in the race but if the horse ran well, he would pass two or three in the straight. He also told Carson not to come back and tell the trainer the horse was no good, as he knew that anyway and this would ruin the owner's day. Therefore he was to come back and say something nice about the horse.

Riding to instructions, the horse passed two others in the final furlong but was still beaten a long way. Willie Carson came back to the unsaddling enclosure, jumped off the horse, took off the saddle, turned to the owners and said “he is a lovely colour.”

As ever, the weekend was busy. The Harveys were present to see Penshurst Lad go through his paces on Saturday morning. He needs some rain before he runs so will not run this week. However, he has taken his Windsor race well and we look forward to him running again and he may well go to Windsor next Monday.

In the evening on Saturday I met up with the Harveys at The Chequers at Churchill. Thanks to winning a quiz there, their prize was dinner for the winning team. As ever, the landlady Assumpta was a wonderful hostess and I was delighted that Sue Harvey had got the tie breaker question right, ‘which musical is associated with a Liverpool anthem?' Of course the answer is Carousel.

Sunday morning Kate Tann and Pauline Moylan came along to see Joking Aside before she goes off to the sales tomorrow. She is the daughter of our decent mare, Listen Up. Joking Aside has not been the luckiest but hopefully she will find a good home following the sale.

In the afternoon I was invited by our former sponsor Phil Surtees, to a game of golf at the Welcombe Golf Club near Stratford . Gordy and I took on Phil Surtees and his friend Paul ‘The Bear' Docherty. Luckily we beat the other two to win the money.

Monday morning is always a busy one, coming up with jobs for the week. The yard is now almost fully painted and some of the horses will be coming in this week to start their campaign.

I am travelling up to Scotland to the Doncaster Bloodstock Sales golf tournament. As last year's winner, I have the shiny trophy in the car with me and I am sure I will be travelling back Thursday evening without it, as I have to play off 13 this week. I am nearly as badly handicapped as some of our horses.

Eastwell Smiles ran a good race at Worcester on Wednesday night. Making the running until the last, the first time blinkers helped him concentrate but he was passed in the last hundred yards and finished third. Hopefully we will get a win out of him soon and he is entered up next week. Ocheekobee needs slower ground and will now be sold for point to pointing.

We have ended up with one new horse from the Newmarket sales this week. A very attractive, rangy filly called Najlaa whom we purchased for 13,000 from William Haggas. She has shown promise and looks great value and anyone interested in her, please let us know.

Yesterday was the Adlestrop Club's visit to Tattersalls Sales. A dozen members of the Club attended the impressive sales complex and were treated to a guided tour in the morning and a picnic at lunchtime. We had the pleasure of having the company of Sharron Murgatroyd and Elaine Mellor for our picnic. I stay with Sharron when in Newmarket . She has now been in a wheelchair for twenty years and is a remarkable human being and she entertained us magnificently during lunch.

The sales finished this morning and we still have orders to fill, which is always good. The sales is always an entertaining time with lots of stories being told including a line this morning from one trainer who said “if I win the lottery this week, I will put it on a 10-1 chance and I might get myself out of trouble.”

We have Eastwell Smiles and Ocheekobee declared at Worcester today. Hopefully the blinkers will work on Eastwell Smiles and he will perform with credit whilst Ocheekobee should come on for his run at Uttoxeter. The ground has been quite good at Worcester at the last two meetings which would suit both horses. Eastwell Smiles should go on the ground and like the trip and in first time blinkers to help him, should run a nice race.

Ocheekobee won a point to point in Ireland and has since had a wind operation. He jumped well enough on his debut and schooled nicely at the weekend, he doesn't have many excuses left.

Following working horses yesterday morning, I travelled to Newmarket to play golf in the Lycetts Golf day. Amongst the attendees were Messers King, Daly, Dunlop, Haggas, Tompkins, Hills, Sherwood and Greatrex. There were also some normal people there who don't train race horses for a living. I played with Ben Hanbury who has retired from training and is always good company and although we didn't play that well, it was a very pleasant afternoon. Kingy won, along with Jack Ramsden who once again was exceedingly well handicapped - like his horses used to be. Mark Tomkpins won nearest the pin whilst Oliver Sherwood won the longest drive - something he hasn't any more thanks to his divorce.

In the evening I popped up to the sales to catch up with a few agents. Then I proceeded to pop into The Yard which is a pub close to the High Street and is better known as Peter Chapple-Hyam's office. We had a very pleasant evening watching the world cup semi final, especially as Charlie Hills had backed Uruguay . The evening then ended with one of our typical racing quizzes as Andrew Balding also turned up.

This morning I have been at the sales and as ever we all tried to buy the same horses, every time I walk in to buy one, so does Anthony Bromley with Alan King. I saw Graham Bradley who had flown in from Ireland having attended JP McManus' golf tournament in Limerick . He had the pleasure of following Tiger Woods, AP McCoy and Mick Fitzgerald. Tiger played brilliantly yesterday and I can only put it down to Fitzy's advice.

5th July, 2010

My secretary and I are sat here trying to remember what happened on Friday. It seems like a long time ago. Apparently I was working all day long, rushing around doing jobs. I love this time of year because I come into my own as Chief Foreman and spend the day giving people jobs to do in preparation for the season ahead. Hopefully Adlestrop Stables is looking very smart.

In the evening I popped down The Fox for a drink in the garden. This is one of the prettiest parts of the Cotswolds and on a Friday evening I normally catch up with locals Tim and Brian.

Talking of bad memories and getting old, Tim's great story was retold on Friday evening. When he was at a funeral not long ago, he was talking to a woman that he could not quite place. After a ten minute conversation of delving, he suddenly realised it was his ex wife.

Saturday morning we had a visit from our sponsors, the Harveys who came to inspect their string and the Murdochs also visited to discuss future plans for the season ahead.

As Sunday was the only day I could see in the diary for visiting my mother, I popped down the M25. Mum has had shingles recently which is not good when you are 88. It is the first time in my life time that I have made her a cup of tea, rather than the other way round but when I left her she was in good spirits. Especially when I announced that I had been told by a doctor that you should ignore the instructions on her medication, not to take alcohol while taking the drugs. This seemed to cheer her up enormously.

Today I got together with Robello's owners, Dave Mason, Ian Dunbar and John Cantrill to discuss future plans as he is entered in the Ascot sales next week. Robello ran very well in his bumper last week but he was bought to sell on and he comes highly recommended to anyone interested in him.

2nd July, 2010

This really is the busiest time of year and therefore I couldn't do a blog yesterday. The horses at Worcester ran well. Whenever should have won but stopped as he hit the front at the last. He is a bit of a character and it is time for head gear. He was given a great ride by Jason Maguire, no wonder Donald McCain has so many winners.

We decided to run Petroupetrov as the clerk of the course had done a great job with the ground. However the pace of the race was too much on the fast side for him and he galloped all the way to the line, only to be done close home for fourth. He will be back in the autumn over 3 ¼ miles with some cut in the ground.

Robello ran an excellent race in the bumper. He came on from his Market Rasen run and despite showing greenness, ran on to be third beaten five lengths by the winner. Jason Maguire reported that he is still on the weak side and looks a useful stayer in the making. He may well go to Ascot Sales on the 13 th July to dissolve a partnership.

They have all come out of their races well and we have a few entries for next week including Eastwell Smiles and Ocheekobee.

Yesterday we had a visit from Alan and Susan Porton. Alan has been kind enough to arrange syndicates for us in the past and has worked for the Reading Evening Post for many years. He came to discuss our charity cricket match which will take place in Reading on the 26 th August. In the old days, Alan and I used to organise charity football matches when I was captain of ‘The Commitments'.

Today most of the staff have paint all over then, luckily some of it has gone on the walls and the stables are being tarted up for the new season ahead.

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