Although we have missed the snow here which has caused disruption in some parts of the country, it has been a pretty unpleasant week in Newmarket with very cold and icy conditions early on before rain and sleet set in over the weekend. Winter is definitely here and the Christmas songs are already in full swing on the radio so I'm already looking forward to next spring!

It has been a few years since we last had a runner over hurdles but we will be back jumps racing next weekend when Clenched heads to Huntingdon on Sunday for her hurdles debut. She has been disappointing on the flat since we bought her earlier in the year so I decided to give her a pop over some hurdles at home to see how she took to it and she was a complete natural. Jockey Jack Quinlan has ridden her a couple of times and is impressed with how well she has taken to it so I think she is worth a run over hurdles to see if she can fare better. She is bred to get a trip so should be able to stay the extra distance but the main thing is that the pair come home in one piece.

Before then our only other runner for the week will be Alibaba at Chelmsford on Thursday. He's not at his best on the all-weather but he missed a good bit of the turf season due to the ground either being too firm or too soft so we've kept him on the go for the winter. He's galloping well at home and Chelmsford's surface seems a bit unique compared to the other all-weather tracks so maybe he will prefer it.

Next week sees the annual week-long winter break for flat racing in the UK to give everyone some time without having to worry about racing and the blog is making the most of it by having the week off too! Please enjoy the latest gallops video below and we will be back next Sunday!