IT has been a great start to the season for us in Ditcheat. A summer Grade 1 courtesy of Ptit Zig in the French Champion Hurdle was the highlight. But that has only spurred the momentum forward, easily surpassing the goal of 20 winners by October 1st. It’s 43 and counting now, the team is in great form.

The opening meeting in Chepstow a few weeks ago is always a meeting that Paul tends to focus on as the unofficial start of the season.

Sending a big team to the Welsh venue, we managed an impressive haul of five winners over the two-day period. The classy Diego Du Charmil put up a good weight-carrying performance to get the team off the mark.

It was followed-up on the Sunday by another Johnny de la Hey-owned newcomer, Dolos, who bolted up in the juvenile hurdle. But undoubtedly the highlight on the card was El Bandit winning the Grade 2 Persian War Hurdle.

Bred in Co. Wexford by Padhraic Doran, the son of Milan has improved from off the scale to land this contest in good style and promises to be an exciting horse going forward for the remainder of the season.

Another personal highlight on the card was our fifth and final winner at the meeting, Coastal Tiep. A gorgeous horse that I broke after he was bought at the store sales over a year ago, he won this bumper impressively.

FLYING START

Away from the racecourse, it has been a busy summer. The construction of a new deep sand canter was finished in July, which has been a massive aid in the flying start made by the yard.

With the new gallop, we have also launched a new website for the yard, which is definitely worth a look. Also launched this summer was the exciting new syndicate Ditcheat Thoroughbreds.

The syndicate comprises of eight horses and is off to a flyer with three winners from its first four runners. One of the winners for the syndicate was the mare Coillte Lass. She won her maiden in Dromahane when under the care of Debbie Hartnett. A handsome daughter of Beneficial, she stayed on well under Sam Twiston-Davies to win in good style at the opening meeting of the re-opened Hereford

As mentioned in my last column in April, we said goodbye to Tom Jonason who was Paul’s assistant. But this season we have welcomed Harry Derham into the job and the opening spell of Harry’s term as assistant has been faultless. Having grown up in the middle of life here at Ditcheat, Harry will have no trouble settling into his new role.

Sadly at Chepstow, Sam Twiston-Davies suffered an injury that could keep him out of action for a few weeks. Sam has really proved himself to be one the of the best around in recent seasons and his absence will be felt.

However, we are very fortunate to have a good team of jockeys, and Nick Schofield, Sean Bowen and Harry Cobden have all taken the chances given to them with both hands.

EXCITING TIMES

Looking forward to the next coming months, there are some potentially exciting times ahead, with Silvinaco Conti, aiming for Down Royal at the beginning of next month, being one of the few to whet the appetite. Hopefully I will be accompanying Ptit Zig on his travels back to his beloved Auteuil.

We have a massive team of novices, both hurdlers and chasers, to appear in the coming weeks once the rain comes. Cheltenham’s October meeting and Aintree’s Old Roan Chase meeting will provide opportunities for some to appear.

On Friday, October 14th, we fielded six runners across two meetings, our local Wincanton and at Fakenham. I took three runners to Fakenham where we had a double with Pilansberg and Keltus. But the day got even better with all three runners at Wincanton winning and five more this week.

It’s brilliant to be a part of the team and a day like that really did give everyone in the yard a good boost. Let’s just hope it can continue right the way through the season.

For information on our runners at Cheltenham, Aintree and Wincanton this weekend please check out Paul’s betfair blog at - https://betting.betfair.com/horse-racing/paul-nicholls/