To those of you who have come here via The Guardian, I would just like to point out that my last horse, Spring Dawn, has been sold to go hunting. That's fox hunting.

Oh well, it was fun having you visit. Cheerio, Guardian readers.

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This is my last Spring Dawn post. We sold him on Thursday at the Doncaster Sales to a good home - he is going to go hunting and point to pointing in Cirencester.

He's a lovely horse, and a terrific jumper, but he just wasn't interested in winning. I'm delighted that he is going to have a lovely semi-retirement with owners who will treat him well.

It was fun, if hardly profitable (although we got almost double the sum we hoped for at auction).

Onwards and upwards: I'm checking over the final details for my new purchase. I can barely contain my excitement. Spring Dawn was never going to be more than a bit of fun. The horse I am about to buy into, however, is - in theory - a serious racehorse. More news when the deal is, hopefully, done...

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He finished second. He pulled very hard, and Andrew Tinkler wouldn't let him run on. He coasted into the battle for the lead but was then just outstayed after the second last by the winner. My view is that if he'd been allowed to gallop on earlier he would have won.

So although I'm disappointed he didn't win, I'm encouraged, and I'll be voting to keep him. There has to be a race in him, and his form is getting steadily better - third, third, second. I think we should keep him for a summer campaign.

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Today could be Spring Dawn's last run under our ownership. It depends how he does. He's running in the 6.10 at Bangor, so fingers crossed...

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Spring Dawn is running at Perth on Friday, possibly for the last time in my ownership.

He has almost no weight but it's a pretty tough handicap, so my hopes are not very high that he can prove us all wrong and make us change our minds about selling him. But the race ain't over until the tired horse has jumped, as they don't say...

UPDATE: He's not, after all. Too soft. He'll run next Friday at either Bangor or Worcester.

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I seem to have unleashed a Diana-replicating tidal wave of affection for Spring Dawn with my news that we might sell him. Well, a couple of emails and some comments.

Just to re-assure you - no, he won't be sold for anything other than racing or hunting (he'll make someone a lovely hunter). The feeling is that we've done all we really can with him, and a change of scene might do him some good. To be blunt, I just think he's got no oomph in him: he does lovely fancy dan jumping but come the business end of the race, he throws in the towel. And yes, before anyone comes up with the hilarious comparison with Spurs: know, I know. But we don't even do the fancy dan stuff.

And there will, of course, be a successor to Mr Dawn. The search is on as we speak.

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I like nothing more than to be of service, and so here's more news of Spring Dawn.

He ran on Monday at Huntingdon and finished 3rd. They had to miss the last fence and Nicky Henderson thinks he might have won if they'd had to jump it - because he was on the outside, he lost a further 3 lengths and was beaten less than that.

I'm not so sure (but then I'm not one of the greatest trainers in history, so quite why my opinion on this is more valid than his is a good question). Whatever, he is most likely to run on Friday week at Perth. And then - unless he does something to surprise us - the liklihood is we'll sell at him at the Doncaster May Sales.

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Same old same old. Spring Dawn finished 3rd. He led most of the way, and jumped well, but faded at the business end of the race. I couldn't see any excuses - it was the right trip, and a truly awful race (the others were all pretty crap).

So it looks like we've got to face the fact that, beautiful as he is, he's just not very good.

Meanwhile, here's Spring Dawn's Japanese soul mate, uncannily called Gentle Spring.

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It seems somehow impertinent to write about Spring Dawn in the middle of the Cheltenham Festival. But impertinent I will be.

He's due to run on Monday at Hereford. He's been dropped 7 pounds in the handicap and he's running, at last, over the minimum trip. So I'm hopeful. But then I've been hopeful every time...

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It was, I'm afraid, the usual story with Spring Dawn. He had the benefit of Tony McCoy on board, but it was the same as ever: he jumped well and bowled along having but, when push came shove, there was nothing in the tank and he came sixth.

It's all hugely frustrating as he jumps so well. We might move back to 2 miles again and, as Tony McCoy suggested, go for broke by galloping off in front and hoping he holds on. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, having tipped Nicky's Fondmort at 7/1 last autumn, here's another one, at much better odds. I am told that Fleet Street has to be backed (each way) for the first race of Cheltenham Festival, the Supreme Novices Hurdle, on 16th March (less than a fortnight away, hurrah!). He's still 25/1 in places, but 14/1 in others. Lump on.

(The usual disclaimers, of course - if he ends up falling at the first, and you lose your mortgage, tough. C'est la vie. If he wins, though, I expect your eternal gratitude.)

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Spring Dawn is, weather permitting, going to to run at Leicester on Tuesday, in a two and a half mile handicap chase.

The handicapper relented at last and dropped him, so fingers crossed things might work out, now that he's at his proper distance.

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The bare form of his run on Friday looks awful - pulled up again. It only goes to show how misleading the form book can be. For the first two miles he jumped beautifully - really, really well, bowling along in front and enjoying himself. It's the first time he's put it together on the course.

But then his stamina gave out after two and a half miles, and rather than dent his confidence by slogging it out for another half mile, tired and drained, Marcus Foley very sensibly pulled him up. So when he runs next time, back over the right distance, he'll have fond memories.

All in all a hugely encouraging run. And about time too!

Plans are fluid, but we have pencilled a race at Stratford on 15th March. As Nicky Henderson said in the unsaddling enclosure, though, what we really want is a two mile race on good to firm ground for grey horses with a name beginning with S.

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He's running on Friday at Sandown, in the 4.15. Given the traumas of his previous runs this season, I won't be recommending a bet...

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Spring Dawn has been entered at four meetings over the next few days: Folkestone on Tuesday, Taunton on Thursday, Sandown on 20th and Fontwell on 22nd. Fingers crossed the ground is OK at at least one of them.

UPDATE: Taunton seems the most likely.

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Grrrr...Spring Dawn's not now running on Saturday. The ground will be too bad, so we're going to wait and see when it gets better.

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Here we go again...

He's running at Sandown on Saturday week (7th February).

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Poor old Spring Dawn. Something always goes wrong. He was jumping absolutely beautifully, and I really thought this time it might all come together...when he clobbered the fourth hurdle from home, and it knocked the stuffing out of him. It was all over from then.

Watching in the bookies, it looked to me as if the amateur riding him, Ben King, presented him wrongly at the hurdle, but I don't think it's really fair to blame him. It just happened. Jumping is the name of the game, after all.

Onwards and upwards...

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He's a definite runner, in the 1.30 at Fakenham on Wednesday.

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A change of tactics. Nicky wants to sharpen up his jumping so his next race will be back over hurdles. He worked really well over them this morning, so maybe that'll do the trick.

He's been entered for a 3 mile amateur handicap hurdle at Fakenham on Wednesday, and that's the clear first choice. But just in case the ground goes bad, he's also being entered for a race at Cheltenham on Saturday, but since that's likely to be much hotter, and is only two miles and half a furlong, it's just a back-up.

Sorry for the lack of posts. Too much real work to do! I should be back to normal now.

Spring Dawn wasn't injured after all. Mick pulled him up simply because the race was too hot for him, he was completely ouptaced, falling way behind - and Mick saw no point in carrying on with a knackered horse.

It's decision like that that make Mick Fitzgerald the great jockey he is. He puts the horse first.

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He was pulled up just after half way through the race. I wasn't at Hereford, so I haven't yet spoken to Mick Fitzgerald or Nicky Henderson for the full story but, watching it on TV, it was clear something went wrong very quickly - one minute he was bounding along and the next, nothing.

Pretty much like his final run last season, when he broke his cannon bone. So here's hoping it's nothing like that again.

No one ever said owning a horse was easy to cope with...

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Spring Dawn has been declared to run at Hereford tomorrow. Here we go again...

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He's entered in two races this week: Hereford on Wednesday, and Ludlow on Friday. But he's unlikely to run at either, unless the weather - and thus the ground - changes significantly.

It's all very frustrating, as the plan was to run very soon after his Ludlow outing. And it'll most likely be at least a month. C'est la vie.

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Oh well.

He just wasn't himself today. He went off in front, as usual, but Mick Fitzgerald reported afterwards that he didn't seem to be enjoying it. He wasn't bowling along as if for fun as he usually does.

Still, he jumped very well and remained in the lead until the last, when he fell. Thank God he was fine afterwards, and Mick said it was nothing to worry about. He was plain tired.

In fact, that's why Mick says the buzz was missing. It seems he needed the race, and will come on a lot for it. So the plan now is to run PDQ, with Hereford on 20th December or one of the holiday meetings as the next target.

The main thing is he's fine, and he jumped well. Onwards and upwards...

And here's a crap picture I took of him in the paddock before the race:

View image

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There's only one thing worth pointing out today: Spring Dawn, at last, makes his seasonal bow this afternoon - and his first attempt over fences - in the 2.40 at Ludlow.

Here's hoping...

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Scrap all that...we've just heard that the ground at Market Rasen is a bog, so he's not going to be running, after all.

It's been so frustrating finding the right going for him. First, it was all rock hard, then it went too soft. Aarrgghhh! Anyway, the two options now are Leicester on Tuesday or Ludlow on Thursday. Fingers crossed one of those will prove OK.

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Here's the big news: Spring Dawn runs on Thursday in the 1.20 at Market Rasen.
Nicky Henderson says he's pretty much 100 per cent fit and Mick Fitzgerald is schlepping all the way up to ride him. We'll know tomorrow lunchtime (when the declarations are published) who he's up against but Nicky has deliberately gone for this option rather than a couple of more valuable races next week because he wants the horse to win first time out. So fingers crossed...

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It looks like Spring Dawn will be running on Thursday 4th in a novice chase at Market Rasen. More information when I have it.

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Now the rains have come, we can run Spring Dawn for the first time this season - and his first time over fences. He needs a week to get fully wound up, but Nicky is thinking about running him at Ludlow on 11th December. There's a £20,000 race at Exeter that week, too, but although Nicky thinks he's good enough, he's worried that it'll be too hot for his first ever run over the big obstacles, so a smaller race is more likely.

I'll keep you posted.

Here he is:

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Autumn's here. and with it the National Hunt season proper...at last. No more of that silly flat racing (other than the execrable all weather rubbish). Real racing. (Just about the only reason I wouldn't rather live in the US than here is the absence of any worthwile NH racing. And cricket.)

I'm in a good mood. AP McCoy missed yesterday due to a suspension, and had three rides at Worcester today, not one of which was for Martin Pipe. Not so much a hint as an instruction. They won at 2/1, 13/8 and 5/6. Talk about buying money.

Anyway, Spring Dawn is bucking and kicking, to quote Nicky Henderson, and Mick Fitzgerald (who yesterday rode his 1000th winner) says he wants to ride him in all his races this season, as he's a natural chaser. All we need now is some rain to ease the ground. Assuming that comes, he should run in two or three weeks. I'll keep you posted.

(BTW, Nicky says Fondmort has "an outstanding chance" in the Paddy Power Chase on Saturday. He's about 6/1 at the moment.)

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