TO BE CONFIRMED 
A couple of things were put in motion yesterday, but both things - a sale and a racing naming - have to be confirmed, so more details in due course. If things go to plan, I will have a stake in my first ever grey, and in August, we'll have The Coventry Friendship Race at the Funabashi track. Okay, it's not an amazing name, but hopefully it sums up its purpose. It would have been nice to have used the 'Coventry Stakes' moniker, but seeing as this race still exists as part of the Royal Ascot meeting, it's a bit of a no-no. Friendship is the object of the race sponsorship, so it all seems to fit.

As it happens, my hometown of Coventry is twinned with Hiroshima - a city I love dearly, but it's a long way from Chiba! They were twinned after WWII, as both were devastated during the conflict. My family lost virtually everything in the war, including my Great-Grandfather's stables, and about the only thing to remember us by nowadays is a road named after the gang leading up to the area that used to be our farmland (with a history in Coventry and the surrounding area dating back to the Doomsday Book, I come from the Hunt and Lowe family lines, and Hunt Terrace is their epitaph).

In reality, there probably isn't that much to link Coventry to Funabashi, or Chiba in general come to think of it. Coventry was the centre of Britain's motor industry, with motorbikes and aeroplanes also playing a large role in the development of the city. Before that, it was silk, bicycles and watchmaking. For centuries, it was the second most important city in Britain, long before the likes of Birmingham and Manchester came to the fore, and was the birthplace of the Lady Godiva legend. But there's a Coventry kid who's made Chiba his home and Funabashi his haven. At the track, we may struggle with each other's language, but we come together through our passion for racing. We communicate through Thoroughbreds, and become friends as a result. Hopefully the race will raise awareness of a city 6000 miles away, and help further promote friendship between two very different cultures with one thing in common - a love of Keiba.