Champion Court rounded off his season in fine style by winning the Macmillan Cancer Support Silver Trophy Steeple Chase at Cheltenham on Wednesday with a courageous and gutsy performance.
It was the first time he has been partnered by stable jockey Ian Popham and he followed my instructions to the letter.
We'd decided not to blaze off in front and potentially set it up for the rest of the field this time, so he dropped him in second or third place and switched him off.
A great leap at the top of the hill saw him upsides in front and approaching the second-last Ian sent him clear and it looked like he was going to win easily.
However, Menorah and Richard Johnson had other ideas and they ran on again and passed Champ approaching the last fence.
Our hearts were in our mouths and memories of the Festival last month where he tired badly up the hill were at the front of our minds.
However, he Ian and Champ were not to be denied this time and they battled back up the hill for a brilliant victory.
His win was made even more special by our sons being there.
Freddie was collected after school from our friend Abi Stock and she brought Harry along too, arriving just in time to say good luck to Ian and Champ in the paddock.
They were so excited to be there to watch Champ win and the photo of them with us all in the winners' enclosure is one we will treasure.
We lost my wife Belinda's mum to cancer three years ago and so to win a race sponsored by Macmillan Cancer Support was very poignant and I'm sure some very special people were helping Champ and Ian up that famous hill.
We had three other runners there on Wednesday too, with two of them also making the winners' enclosure.
Creepy ran a career-best over hurdles and finished second in the Auriga Network Handicap Hurdle over two and a half miles.
He is a very nice horse to look forward to next season and our plans to go novice chasing may now be on hold as he showed us there may be some nice novice hurdles to be won with him.
Annacotty disappointed me with his jumping when finishing fourth in the Citipost Novices' Hurdle and Ian said there was definitely something amiss as jumping is usually his strong point.
We'll get him fully checked out. Faultless Feelings was our final runner of the day and needs a holiday after a busy season.
Today we have two runners at Ayr and I'm hoping Seymour Eric has a chance to win his fifth race of the season for us.
He's certainly got his ground there with it going heavy after plenty of rain.
We bypassed Cheltenham as he loves soft ground and hopefully he'll make the trip worthwhile.
Always Bold will also love the soft ground and as long as his run earlier in the week at Exeter, when he finished fourth, hasn't left a mark on him he should run well.
With plenty of tracks still getting lots of rain and others missing it, we have a decent selection of ground to run on and we have still got quite a few horses in training to run.
The end of the season is only a week away now and any more winners to add to our seasonal tally would be appreciated!
It was the first time he has been partnered by stable jockey Ian Popham and he followed my instructions to the letter.
We'd decided not to blaze off in front and potentially set it up for the rest of the field this time, so he dropped him in second or third place and switched him off.
A great leap at the top of the hill saw him upsides in front and approaching the second-last Ian sent him clear and it looked like he was going to win easily.
However, Menorah and Richard Johnson had other ideas and they ran on again and passed Champ approaching the last fence.
Our hearts were in our mouths and memories of the Festival last month where he tired badly up the hill were at the front of our minds.
However, he Ian and Champ were not to be denied this time and they battled back up the hill for a brilliant victory.
His win was made even more special by our sons being there.
Freddie was collected after school from our friend Abi Stock and she brought Harry along too, arriving just in time to say good luck to Ian and Champ in the paddock.
They were so excited to be there to watch Champ win and the photo of them with us all in the winners' enclosure is one we will treasure.
We lost my wife Belinda's mum to cancer three years ago and so to win a race sponsored by Macmillan Cancer Support was very poignant and I'm sure some very special people were helping Champ and Ian up that famous hill.
We had three other runners there on Wednesday too, with two of them also making the winners' enclosure.
Creepy ran a career-best over hurdles and finished second in the Auriga Network Handicap Hurdle over two and a half miles.
He is a very nice horse to look forward to next season and our plans to go novice chasing may now be on hold as he showed us there may be some nice novice hurdles to be won with him.
Annacotty disappointed me with his jumping when finishing fourth in the Citipost Novices' Hurdle and Ian said there was definitely something amiss as jumping is usually his strong point.
We'll get him fully checked out. Faultless Feelings was our final runner of the day and needs a holiday after a busy season.
Today we have two runners at Ayr and I'm hoping Seymour Eric has a chance to win his fifth race of the season for us.
He's certainly got his ground there with it going heavy after plenty of rain.
We bypassed Cheltenham as he loves soft ground and hopefully he'll make the trip worthwhile.
Always Bold will also love the soft ground and as long as his run earlier in the week at Exeter, when he finished fourth, hasn't left a mark on him he should run well.
With plenty of tracks still getting lots of rain and others missing it, we have a decent selection of ground to run on and we have still got quite a few horses in training to run.
The end of the season is only a week away now and any more winners to add to our seasonal tally would be appreciated!