Evening racing will shortly be over which will mean things get slightly quieter as everyone has been pretty flat out recently.

That said, there are still the all-weather evening meetings and, as a jockey, the more possibilities of rides – and therefore winners – the better as far as I am concerned.

There is always talk of burn-out with jockeys during the summer months, and as a result, we are not permitted to ride at more than nine meetings a week – a rule which was introduced about four years ago.

Personally speaking though, I am not in favour of being restricted to how much I can ride in a week. We are not kids and know what our bodies are capable of. I would never take a ride if I didn’t think I could do it justice and give it 100%. 

Sure, it’s hard work at this time of the year, but a lot of jockeys take it in turns driving or have drivers, and I am lucky in that one of my talents is being able to cat-nap anywhere or any time! I only need about 10 minutes’ sleep to recharge and I’m ready to roll again.

I guess I would say that as I am keen to break 100 winners again for the year, and I’m well on target to do so, with 81 winners on the board so far. A treble at Chepstow last week certainly helped, and I was on the favourite Sea The Flames to make it a four-timer, which would have been my first – but it wasn’t to be, as we finished second.

Looking ahead to the weekend, we have the Irish Champion Stakes and Haydock Sprint Cup, although I am not sure what my plans are at the moment.

I see So You Think is as short as 2-7 to win in Ireland, following his win in the Coral-Eclipse. He beat a good field that day, with Workforce finishing second, and of course, he meets Snow Fairy again, who was nearly 10 lengths behind him.

I think it will be much closer between the pair on Saturday, as Snow Fairy was having her first run back at Sandown and Ed Dunlop says she is in much better shape now. Remember she is a dual Oaks winner and went on to win two top-class races in Japan and Hong Kong, beating some of the best colts in the world at Sha Tin.

We’ll have to see what happens at Leopardstown but I read that So You Think could be heading to the Arc, and I for one can’t wait until that first Sunday in October.

Margot Did is being aimed at the Prix de l’Abbaye and by all accounts has come out of her win in the Nunthorpe really well and will just be kept ticking over ahead of the race. I’ve heard so much about the day and have never been, so to finally be part of one of the greatest racedays of the year will be something else.

Hopefully it could be an amazing end to what has just been the most fantastic year so far.

[racinguk.com]