Another successful summer on the Flat – no Royal Ascot winner but the likes of Top Tug and Who Dares Wins did us proud at the major meetings – but now the focus is very much on the jumpers.

The old and the young have already bagged us big Saturday pots in the shape of Smad Place and Elgin, but it was hard work trying to find new recruits at the recent Horses In Training Sale at Newmarket, with the Australians and Dubaians having bigger cheque books than all of us.

However, Redicean and Crushed are new recruits to the Barbury team, and we look to be particularly well off for potential novice chasers this winter, with Yanworth and Sceau Royal already making their mark, and we aren’t too shabby in the novice hurdle department either with Harefield looking the real deal.

So it’s onward and upwards, here’s hoping Jack Frost does not appear too often and we can enjoy another profitable. We’ve certainly started off well enough.