Not even the Beast from the East can stop us at Gordon's

There’s been plenty of chat about the Beast from the East throughout the past few days and yesterday we had our first experience of the bad weather with ten inches of snow falling in Cullentra.

I was up at about 6.30am and it took me over half an hour to drive from Trim to Gordon’s, which is normally a 10 minute drive, the snow was that bad.

First lot: Georgie Benson's view heading to the gallops on Wednesday morning

We weren’t really expecting it to be as bad yesterday as it was but Gordon obviously was.

He took no chances and asked two of our handymen, John Winston and Tom Connally, to take turns in harrowing the gallop all night so it wouldn’t freeze over.

It’s lucky they did it because we were able to work through the weather, which is obviously hugely important at this time of year – the last thing you want to do is miss a day’s riding because the weather of all things!

We’re well used to winter conditions working at Gordon’s but it’s still a little strange to see it snowing with just two weeks until Cheltenham.

My old pal Cause Of Causes seemed just as confused as I did yesterday but I’ve little doubt that, come the festival, he’ll spring into life.

Job Stable lass at Gordon Elliott's

Age 18

I know the weights came out for the handicaps on Wednesday as well, as a lot of people were rushing home to have a study up of some of the horses in the yard to see what weight the got, but I suppose I’m lucky in a way that all the horses I look after are predominantly Graded horses, so I didn't look too hard yet.

Speaking of Graded horses, Apple's Jade was her usual professional self on Wednesday morning and barely turned a hair despite the weather.

We’re all really looking forward to just getting these couple of weeks over and done with and arriving at Cheltenham with happy and healthy horses, hopefully.

I’d imagine Gordon will have a plan in place for making sure the gallop is rideable again Thursday.

It's absolutely horrible, but everybody is willing to put in the extra effort, and if we can at all, we’ll continue to work through the Beast from the East in order to ensure we arrive at Cheltenham in top shape.

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