Those living in towns, villages and cities can be grateful for their day time refuse collections, in the sticks we have no such luxury. At four thirty am every Wednesday I am assured of an early wake up call when the big truck comes trundeling down the drive, the noise they make collecting the four huge industrial size bins is monumentally loud. James is already on the yard getting ready to feed and I am not too far behind him, especially on Wednesday's, thanks to this ritual. Today I was grateful for an extra early start to the day because today was extra busy for us with racing's "big white chief" joining us for second lot and a breakfast of sorts. "Steve Harman" is Chairman of the British Horseracing Authority and, one of the reasons he happens to have been so sucessful in turning round our 'collosal dinosaur' of an industry, is his ability to communicate with everyone in the sport, from the grass roots up, and his willingness to put himself out and spend time with the people who make the sport tick.
Our conversation was interesting and varied and we soon ran out of time even though Steve stayed longer than he had originally planned. His breaksfast of sorts was a saugage butty made by Anna, no offence to Anna, but he missed out on the real McCoy of a Sun Hill breakfast by coming midweek, and not on a Saturday when Nancy is likely to be here to perform miracles in our kitchen.
During the morning we were also joined by "Derek and Sandra Shewring" (My Amigo and Encantar) "Mr and Mrs Ingham" and later, by "Evelyn Duchess of Sutherland" .
At Catterick, there was a huge crowd, Red Charmer ran very well on ground that was a bit too soft although, at the grand old age of six he is starting to appreciate a bit of cut in the ground. Showboat disappointed and has done this to us before, he has been given a lot of TLC and all the time he has needed to mature, so we will be seriously considering options for him outside of racing.