Travel Update

David writes -

One of the things that I enjoy most about being on holiday is reading.  I have just finished reading a fascinating book sent to me by a very thoughtful owner - thank you Ian!

It is a book written by Paul Williams and is about the life of a New Zealander called Tom Pritchard - Tom was one of our greatest ever crickets - a terrific fast bowler whose career was derailed by the Second World War.  He was from Taranaki and after the war he played professional cricket in England, playing against the greats such as Don Bradman.  After the war, Pritchard lived in England for 40 years before coming back to New Zealand to live in retirement for about 25 years.  Tom Pritchard also loves horse racing and even at the grand age of 95, he still has horses in work, all with "Quality" in their names.

Today Karyn and I and Lydia and Julia Rose are having lunch with Guy Sargent and his partner Deb who also happen to be in London.  Another special friend joining us for lunch today, who is also coincidentally here, is former Trackside presenter Jason Tan who now works in racing broadcast in Hong Kong - we are really looking forward to catching up with them all.

Then tonight we are having dinner with a very special client of ours who is from Canada but who is in London to buy a dressage horse for his daughter.  These horses are worth more than a good racehorse!

Last night Karyn and I took Lydia and Mitch her partner and Julia Rose to a magnificent restaurant out towards Windsor called Waterside Inn.  It would have to be the very best restaurant I have ever been to - right on the River Thames.

The weather here is quite overcast and not as warm as we expected - we are still keeping a good eye on all things racing in New Zealand - yesterday I looked to buy a horse at the South Island Sale through NZB agent Danny Rolston but it exceeded what I was prepared to value the horse at/pay for it - my attention is now firmly focussed on the Ready to Run Sale in November.

We came very close to winning two more races in Singapore on Friday but had to settle for seconds with Dreamcatcher and Eaton's Gold who were both narrowly beaten.