Small training yards across the region are stretched when sending runners as this takes staff away from the morning's work and puts more upon those left behind. These tasks are part of the accepted routine of a racing yard, and easier to accommodate when the horses are running well. 

So you can imagine the mood will be pretty chipper in Westbury-on-Severn this afternoon and for the rest of this week after a rare double for the dual-purpose yard of Adrian Wintle after a double at Newton Abbot and Bath today. 

Hurdler Espinator has already done the yard proud this year, with 3 wins and four placed efforts from seven starts since April 1st, and she notched her second victory this month in the Racing Partnership Novices Handicap Hurdle at showery Newton Abbot's meeting today, winning by 8 1/2l. There's more to come from this game 7 year old. 

Eighty minutes later, and 111 miles north-east at Bath, Blue Hero followed up his course win of a fortnight ago in a mile handicap; that's also two from two in September. The same stable's Kenstone finished runner-up in the first division of an identical race 30 minutes earlier. 

The Wintle team is in flying form presently. The last 6 runners have finished no worse than third, so autumn conditions clearly suit all.

And they make evening stables a great deal less arduous when short-handed! 

You'd think there'd be a legion of trainers in Berkeley country, given the widespread grassland and rich heritage of hunting. The reality is something different: our leading - and almost only - trainer is Adrian Wintle at Westbury-on-Severn. 

It would appear that a majority of trainers have migrated to the hill country of the Cotswolds, where the cluster of Jumps trainers and their phalanxes of high quality thoroughbreds between Cheltenham and Oxford grows each year.

But there's certainly nothing wrong with Adrian's methods, or his results, as this afternoon's results from Uttoxeter illustrate. A clever half length victory in the St Leger Guide At attheraces.com/leger Novices Handicap Hurdle over the higher-rated Champagne Noir from the opposite end of the Cotswolds is a perfect example. 

Espinator, picking up a second consecutive handicap win off a light weight, is earning his keep in the best possible fashion, earning his owner £7,952.68 in six runs since April 1st. 

But whilst any winner is to be celebrated, and many owners will say it was never about the money, it's a stark reminder of the competition we face when horses under Rules are running into place money for little more than the travel expenses. Small wonder some of our trainers are voting with their feet for a better lifestyle and easier rewards in France. 

Adrian Wintle is enjoying an excellent start to September, Espinator providing a second winner within a week after Plansina won a middle distance handicap at Bath last week.

Meanwhile, as the harvest season draws to a close, Berkeley Pointing enthusiasts are in good company thinking about what to campaign this winter and next Spring at Woodford and elsewhere. The fixture list is nearly complete, and allows for a better balance than in any recent season, with many fixtures opting for autumn or winter racing. 

Check out the new Season Ticket to all the fixtures in the West Mercian area that include Woodford next Spring. At £130, it represents excellent value for an early sight of horses, riders and trainers on the upgrade.