There were so many things that pleased me during the 2021-22 jumps season, our first Cheltenham Festival winner for seven years with Arkle hero Edwardstone, and the long-awaited resumption of racegoers being allowed back on the track being high on the agenda.

However, it was arguably the consistency of the horses which was really encouraging – 60 winners, 64 seconds and 65 thirds – and here’s hoping that will be the same story in this year’s Flat season, for which I will have a growing team of between 60 and 70 horses.

Trueshan was the star of the show last season, and, while we were fortunate to be able to get him started a bit earlier this spring when the ground was soft enough for him to get rolling in the Further Flight Stakes at Nottingham in April, the clouds up above have shut up shop recently and we’ll need the heavens to open if he is going to make either the Yorkshire Cup or the Henry II Stakes at Sandown.

Two Grade 1’s last summer were beyond our wildest dreams, but obviously everyone at Barbury is praying for a wet Royal Ascot, so Trueshan could transform what seems an impossibility into a glorious reality, success in the Ascot Gold Cup, the ultimate target for every staying horse on the Flat.

We managed to produce some exciting bumper horses last winter, which augurs well for the future, and, similarly, we have fingers and toes firmly crossed that there might be a future star among the two-year-old division.

We had to say farewell to Asymmetric, who has been shipped to America to join Wes Ward. He did us proud when winning the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood and finishing a close third in the G1 Prix Morny at Deauville, but we’ve been busy at the Breeze-Up Sales and also bought some lovely yearlings last Autumn, so maybe there is another star in there somewhere. Until their bubbles are burst, we can but dream…

Have fun and stay healthy,

ALAN