Nottingham Racecourse - NHC

The month kicked off with a very enjoyable trip to Nottingham Racecourse. It was a first for Brooke, Pete and myself at this track and I can honestly say we all were blown away with what a lovely racecourse it is. Everyone was beyond welcoming and made our job as smooth as possible. We headed up there for the NHC who we are filming a second video for to demonstrate the endless and varied job roles available within the racing industry. The sun shone bright for the whole day which Brooke was lapping up, Pete and I on the other hand did have to take shelter in the shade a few times. We rounded off the day with a dine in dinner at McDonalds, you can’t say we don’t spoil you Brooke?

Dan Skelton & Ian Williams – NHC

We kept the NHC theme going with a second day of filming however this time on site at two top training facilities, Dan Skelton’s in the morning and Ian Williams’ in the afternoon. Dan’s yard is always a treat for us, walking through the barns is like a Racing Hall of Fame. Ian’s was a first for us, taking the number of licensed racing yards which we have filmed in up to 58. Here, I got to meet my favourite flat horse, Enemy. We have two new yards booked in the diary for this month so a milestone of 60 is on the horizon. Pete and I treated ourselves to a nicer lunch this time in-between the yard visits (sorry Brooke) at The Arrow Mill, a personal favourite of ours located opposite the glorious Ragley Hall.

Kingston Blount – GB Pointing

Pete and I took the sunshine with us to Kingston Blount to get some content for GB Pointing ahead of their awards night in June. A day out pointing is always fun for us so not a bad way to spend a Sunday working. The effort which goes into getting these pointing meetings off the ground is nothing short of incredible and it was great to see a good turn out and a decent number of runners in each race.

Perth Racecourse

It was then up to Scotland myself and Pete to film The Perth Festival and I think this might be our new favourite track. We were working alongside Georgie Wood and Kitty Waddell who we’d like to personally thank for being so helpful. We stayed in a lovely Airbnb 10 minutes from the track for the four days and had a day to ourselves in-between which we COULD have spent having a few drinks in the sunshine and watching the racing however we instead used this day as an opportunity to capture some extra content and audio for our own socials and blog content, the work never stops ey?

SANS

The last Monday of April saw us back at our good friend’s, James Lyne’s, to film for SANS. We have been out and about a lot this month chasing horses with our cameras, so it was nice to mix it up with a studio setting. James has always been a big supporter of ours and it’s always a genuine pleasure to catch up with him. He’s also a total pro to film with one take wonders all afternoon which makes our job (and Billie’s for editing) an awful lot easier!

William Haggas – OGR

Back as a trio, we, joined by Old Gold Racing’s Pete, headed to the elite flat yard of William Haggas (yard number 59!) in Newmarket. Haggas and his team are just shy of 3000 winners and will be looking to surpass their best season this time of 180 wins. Newmarket has such a racing feel on a normal day but this being the week of the Guineas, made for even more of a buzz. We stayed locally the night before ready to film Old Gold Racing’s latest horse in the morning – keep your eyes peeled for this one!

The Jockey Club - Cheltenham Racecourse

Our last filming job of the month was nice and local for us at Cheltenham Racecourse to do some filming for The Jockey Club to document their progress with the new track drainage system. It felt very bizarre being at the National Hunt Racing hub with no one there but we look forward to the gates reopening and the Guinness Village being back in full flow next season!

Looking Ahead

As mentioned in the last newsletter, our new office is imminent and the new premises will allow for a purpose-built podcast studio, something we are very excited to get up and running. There is still plenty to be done ahead of us moving and interior designing may be added to Brooke’s job description over the next few months!

On a personal note, I can finally see! Anyone who knows me knows I’m not one to complain and am always happy to just crack on. However after five long years, I finally paid a very overdue visit to opticians who were all pretty shocked by the lack of sight I have been living with. Luckily for me, they have kitted me out with some new, corrective glasses, and wow, I feel like I am now living in HD. I’ll have absolutely no excuses on the golf course now.

Pete has been down with man flu, accompanied by a wisdom tooth extraction and some rather intense physio on his wonky hip (pray for Pete). Maybe it’s withdrawal symptoms from no spontaneous trips this month? Jokes aside, Pete has been in good spirits and has slapped a smile on and shown up like a trooper each day. We’re both looking forward to recharging our social batteries at the annual Cheltenham Jazz Festival this weekend.

Billie has spent the past few weeks editing the Nicholls’ documentary. Although in her own time she has got fully stuck into the start of spring as a fully-fledged dog mum; planting the veg patch only to watch the dog dig it all back up again. After Mani’s jabs, he can now enjoy exploring the outside world although his run time is still limited so the puppy rucksack is in full swing during their adventures!

Brooke balanced her civilised Aintree race days out with plenty of boogying in Liverpool’s famous PopWorld. A wild hen do back in her home shire, a party at the Sandown jumps finale and a whistle stop tour of Ireland to watch Richie in Punchestown was chucked in for good measure. She has also been embracing the new season, as a real sun worshipper and plant lover, Brooke never needs much of an excuse to get out in the garden with her cats and the clouds parting to let in a whopping 16 degrees of heat has been plenty of a reason!

Now, our monthly plug for our latest documentary for Old Gold Racing; this time we were behind the scenes with 14-time Champion trainer, Paul Nicholls. I know we say this every time, but we really are proud of this one. Billie has done an incredible job editing it together and it’s a brilliant portrayal of the immaculate operation which Paul runs. If you’re looking for something to stick on this evening, please give this one a watch!

Paul Nicholls: The Gold Standard

Thanks for reading, catch up in June!

Louis, Pete, Billie & Brooke