Blacko has been in great form in the run up to his main target for the season in tomorrows 2m½f (2m87y) (Old) Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (Registered As The Fred Winter) (Grade 3) (Class 1) (4yo). Coming in to the race off two solid wins, with a very workable handicap mark of 135 after winning at Warwick on the 22nd of January. Arguably not visually impressive that day he did only what he needed to win the race, after making his own running which is far from ideal. This will not be the case tomorrow at Cheltenham with a sure fire end to end gallop. The one thing Blacko does is travel and jump which he will need to tomorrow. His lack of race course experience is a slight concern having only the four outings over hurdles and no runs on the flat. He may not be as battle hardened as his opposition, but I feel this leaves him unexposed and the 16/1 available is massive each way value. Tom Bellamy takes the ride again and it would mean as much to me as riding a winner at the meeting as to see Alan, Tom and Paul be triumphant on the biggest stage in our sport.

Her Terms (Pivotal x Best Terms) Delivered a good looking colt foal last night and we are delighted to report that mother and son are doing great. He arrived at 8.30pm which was very civilized of him. Although not the biggest which he is entitled to be as mum is petit everything is in the right place and he's healthy. He is particularly exciting being 3/4 in blood to the stakes performing filly Star Terms (Sea The Stars x Best Terms). Star Terms is a listed winner with Group 1,2 and 3 placings. Our colt foal is Her Terms second foal, her Filly yearling Dark Terms (Dark Angel x Her Terms) will hopefully carry the colors for AppleTree in 2021 as our intention is to retain her. Our policy at present is to run the filly's and sell the colts so it is likely that Sea The Stars x Her Terms will turn up at one of the prestige sales in the near future. For the mean time we look forward to watching him grow an mature.

Secret Advisor followed up his Listed win last night by winning Nad Al Sheba Trophy Sponsored By Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City-District One (Group 3) (Turf) over 1m 6f adding a very good update to Astonishing's pedigree. He is out of a full sister to Astonishing, Sub Rose and as previously discussed makes the mating between Astonishing and Too Darn Hot something to look forward too. There are sure to be plenty of updates coming through in the near future as we hope Secret Advisor is not done yet, Yes My Boy Astonishing's half brother won at Newcastle on 11th of February and looks set for Stakes races, also Astonishing's second foal Gold Maze (Golden Horn x Astonishing) already has black type and holds an entry in the 1m4f Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby (Group 1) (Entire Colts & Fillies) (3yo) and Her exciting Showcasing colt is in training with Archie Watson and pleasing in his work.

Astonishing had her Dark Angel filly foal at 2.20 am Sunday morning. All is well with mare and foal, I'd go as far to say she is a cracker. The filly is the 4th foal out of Astonishing and first filly which is great news for us here at Appletree. Our filly is a half sister to Gold Maze and our exciting Showcasing colt in training with Archie Watson. The plan at present will be to retain her for her racing career and then have her back at Appletree as a broodmare.

Yes My Boy (Footstepsinthesand x Amazing Krisken), a 3yo half brother to our very own Astonishing won the Bombardier British Hopped Amber Beer Novice Stakes over a 1m last night at Newcastle adding another update to an already solid page. The race looked strong on paper but Yes My Boy dealt out 3/4 of a length beating to the John Gosden Trained Cemhaan with a further 1 1/2 lengths back to Charlie Appleby's 88 officially rated Dubawi Colt Discovery Island. Yes My Boy Broke well and travelled before pressing on from the furlong pole, staying on strongly to the line. He looks as if he will stay further and will be exciting to see what targets Archie Watson has for him. Astonishing is in foal to Dark Angel and over her due date so we are waiting with great anticipation to see what she delivers. She has on the ground the exciting 3yo Golden Horn colt Gold Maze with Jessica Harrington in Ireland who is already Group 2 placed and entered in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby. Astonishing also has a 2yo colt by Showcasing which I have always loved, he too is being trained in Lambourn by Archie Watson. We have booked Astonishing in to visit Too Darn Hot this season. The coming summer should hold some interesting updates and good results.

Secret Advisor (Dubawi x Sub Rose) gained more Black Type for the page of our very own mare Astonishing (Galileo x Amazing Krisken) last night in Meydan Dubai, winning the Meydan Cup Sponsored By P & O Marinas (Listed Handicap) (Turf) over a 1m6f. Secret Advisor is out of a full sister to Astonishing, Sub Rose. We look forward to seeing Secret Advisor having more opportunity add black type to the page through out the Dubai Carnival. Astonishing is in foal to Dark Angel, due this weekend and booked in to visit Too Darn Hot (Dubawi x Dar Rae Mi) 2020 breeding season which makes the result very exciting indeed as Dubawi x Galileo cross is proving lucrative.

Fearns Pippin Showcasing filly becomes the second new arrival for AppleTree Stud in 2020 born in the early hours of this morning 12.10am in IRE at Coolmore Stud. She is Fearns first foal and according to Coolmoore she's a "CRACKER" which is great news and Showcasing is a great stallion to send maiden mares to. We have supported Showcasing well since we set up and he never gives a bad foal. She weighs 46.72kg (103lb) and Fearns is reportedly the perfect mother. Fearns Pippin will be covered by Churchill before returning home. Pictures will be posted ASAP

Appletree Stud is please to announce our first arrival of 2020. Jack Hobbs x The Pirates Queen colt was born at 11.30pm on 24/01/20. TPQ foaled with the minimum of fuss and we are delighted with her foal as he is the first colt she has produced. He is TPQ's fourth foal, TPQ is yet to have a runner but we are looking forward to seeing her other off spring running in the near future. Kalansi x The Pirates Queen16 filly will run in bumpers in the spring and is being trained by Alan King. Sea The Moon x The Pirates Queen17 has just gone in to training with Alan and TPQ's Sea The Moon 18 is broken and ridden away. I'm toying with the idea of running TPQ's 2 Sea The Moon fillies on the flat. TPQ had plenty of pace her self and Sea The Moon has really stamped his stock so watch this space.

Blacko made it 2 wins from 2 GB starts this afternoon at Warwick in the 1.00pm Try Racing TV For Free Now Juvenile Hurdle beating The Pink'n by 2 and 1/4 lengths. There was not enough early pace so Tom Bellamy aloud Blacko to set his own gallop from the second flight of hurdles, never looking any danger being beaten. The win now gives us options and we will definitely have to step up in grade next time. My target would be straight to The Fred Winter Handicap for juveniles at the festival as I think Blacko can progress and the handicapper can't be too hard on him after today as on face value he has run to a similar mark as Taunton last time. We could go to something like the Adonis Hurdle at Kempton and have pop at the Triumph if he won that, but I'm not convinced he's up to that level this season and as I have said in the past Blacko will be a better horse next season and when he jumps a fence in time. Alan, Paul and I will have the discussion over the next few days but I suspect it will be plan A.

Blacko makes his second GB start this afternoon in the Try Racing TV For Free Now Juvenile Hurdle (Class 4) (4yo) at Warwick 1.00pm. We are looking for him to follow up his decisive win at Taunton in December. There is a field of 8 in the contest and respect is given to the Dan Skelton trained Scorched Earth, a winner at Catterick on debut before finishing 4th in a nice race at Newbury behind the Henderson trained Mister Coffey. Alan King had the third in the Newbury race with On To Victory so again we have line through the form. The most Interesting opposition I feel is the Philip Hobbs trained Guernsey, he is making his British debut and has a similar profile to Blacko when he arrived from France, having run twice at Argentan being placed 2nd on his most recent start. it may be difficult to concede a penalty to Guernsey but we have improved and are likely to do so through the coming months We are again Delighted that Tom Bellamy takes the ride.