Monday, October 6, 2025 – Richard Phillips Racing

Today to Stratford with the Sumatran Tiger who will make her hurdle debut for us at 3.50pm. Tiggy has won two Jersey Derbies and seems to enjoy jumping at home. While this is a hot match, the experience should do her a lot of good and we look forward to her showing some promise.

Tomorrow we go to Brighton with Mostly Mozart and Fighting Poet. Mozart is usually indicated in the 15.45 – the mile and a half handicap. He ran well on his final run after a trip on softer ground with promising apprentice Jack Callan taking the ride. While Poet runs the mile and quarter handicap at 4:15 p.m. He is a course and distance winner with Sean D Bowen taking the ride.

We entered Dora Vita at Kempton on Friday with the two-year-old fillies starting. As a daughter of Dream Ahead, she is a half-sister of five winners and has already shown a lot of talent in-house. It will be good to give her some experience for her enthusiastic syndicate.

Very sad news that Dame Jilly Cooper has passed away. Jilly was a wonderful friend and supporter who was full of love for people and animals. From having shares in syndicates with us to visiting her wonderful friend and owner Lizzie Prowting – we have had so many special times together.

I first met her when she wrote ‘Jump’ – a novel about jump racing, when I was privileged to be asked to advise her. Not only did I get a mention in the credits, along with Jo who proofread the copy, but I actually got a mention in the book itself. Also pleased to be one of Jilly’s pin-ups in an article in ‘Oldie’ magazine and mentioned along with Andrew Parker-Bowles, Paul O’Grady, Sean Connery and Virgil van Dijk.

Jilly will be sadly missed by millions of people and especially by her family and many friends. Such love, humor and talent are rare and our thoughts and prayers are with her children Felix and Emily and all her loving family.