2022 signed off, roll on the New Year!
It’s been a little while since my last update after heading back to Japan from a successful trip to Hong Kong to compete in the IJC.
We headed straight back to Japan after riding at Happy Valley on Wednesday evening for our final few weekends in Japan until our final day at Nakayama on Christmas Day, and whilst the result wasn’t what I’d hoped for, to have a ride in the Arima Kinen, one of the most highly regarded Group 1’s in the Japanese racing calendar was a real honour. To finish up the trip on 16 winners, and to have loved every minute of our stay means there is a lot of people to thank, from Trainers, owners, our agents, and especially Kazuma our interpreter, who did an incredible job organising everything for us to have such a successful stay, but even more so for putting up with us for 9 weeks! We are both really hoping to get back to Japan again next year to try to continue where we left off!
After riding on Christmas Day we headed straight to the airport to fly to Qatar, where we had a few days, 2 of which we were riding, and after taking out the Local Arabian Derby aboard Hadlan, we headed straight back to the airport again after riding to finish the final leg of our journey home!
With a couple of winners each over our first few days back riding in the UK it was a successful start to the new year, especially for Hollie who managed to bang in 7 winners in the week before we headed off on a ski holiday with family, we both absolutely love heading to the mountains in the winter, and while we don’t end up with too much time spare, we like to make sure we make the most of it by skiing hard and eating well whilst we are there!
Over the next few weeks it’s looking like the plan will be to ride in England and possibly the Middle East a little bit, before heading back down under for a stint through the Autumn Carnival in Sydney.
So although it’s rather belated, a very Happy New Year to everyone, I really hope it’s a year full of success, happiness and good health for you all!