Preparations are well under way for the 2025 turf season following our most lucrative year yet which featured victories in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Irish Oaks and Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

BLUESTOCKING’s day in Paris will be forever seared in our memories, especially as we left it until the last moment before supplementing her for the race. I came back early from the Goffs sales to assess how she looked and worked - I couldn’t find a reason not to run her. It couldn’t have worked out any better.

Irish Oaks winner YOU GOT TO ME has been bought by Amo Racing and sent back here. She looks well for the time of year and thrives on being in training. She took a while to let down last autumn and we won’t be rushing her. The Lancashire Oaks is a possible starting point with the King George, Yorkshire Oaks, Prix Vermeille and Arc on the list of principal targets.

STARLUST is also back in training and set for a campaign geared around defending his Breeders’ Cup Sprint crown. He had a long, much-travelled year that culminated in defeat in Hong Kong where he was drawn wide and used up too much petrol trying to get an early position. It’s easy to put a line through that run. The Nunthorpe and Prix de l’Abbaye are on the agenda before he returns to the States.

Stable stalwart KINROSS shows no sign of losing his enthusiasm at the age of eight and will be aimed at the usual seven-furlong races again. We have to mind him where quick ground is concerned so don’t be surprised if, like last year, he kicks off in the six-furlong Chipchase on Newcastle’s all-weather surface. The Golden Jubilee would be an alternative if there was sufficient rain at Royal Ascot.

QIRAT is training well for the Lincoln, the first big handicap of the season. He missed the cut by one for the Balmoral on Champions’ Day last autumn when we think he would have gone very close. Her prefers a bit of juice in the ground.

On the Classic front we’re looking at probably the Dante for Derby hope STANHOPE GARDENS, who ran with such great promise for a late foal to finish a close second to an Aidan O’Brien-trained favourite in the Autumn Stakes at Newmarket.

STARZINTHEIREYES, winner of the Zetland at the same meeting, looks an obvious candidate for the Chester Vase before Epsom as he’s such a well-balanced colt.

Among the fillies, we’re thinking in terms of the Guineas for Oh So Sharp runner-up CATHEDRAL and the Oaks for unbeaten SMOKEN.

One notable change to the operation here is that Richard Kingscote will be riding more for us this season, joining Rossa Ryan and Hector Crouch as our main jockeys.