Westover goes to the Curragh this Saturday with an excellent chance of making amends for a troubled trip at Epsom. His effort in the Derby was as much as we could have hoped for – it was just very unfortunate that two gaps closed on him in quick succession.

Mostly the horses have been running well through June. Royal Ascot was frustrating in that several horses ran into traffic problems, notably Star of Orion in the 7f Handicap, and State Occasion in the 8f Fillies Handicap. But that is the nature of it, and I was delighted with Jimi Hendrix’s fine effort, to take third place in the Britannia Handicap. Prosperous Voyage will go back to a straight track, and Kinross was only beaten two and a half lengths on ground that was too quick for him to show his best. He looks like he is getting faster as he gets older. The St James’s Palace was run at a crawl, not suitable for Angel Bleu whose best form is also when there is more give in the ground.

Wins from Vee Sight on seasonal debut, Biggles (twice), Be Lucky My Son (twice) and Definite all gave us optimism for the rest of the year. Whilst a debut 2yo win from Lezoo and good efforts from Dandy Alys mean we aren’t far away in that divison either. We have had to be patient with a lot of the team, but they seem to be healthy now, and so we are looking forward to the second half of the summer.