Alcalde turned into the winning hurdler we hoped he'd become when purchasing him from Tattersalls in July with a 12-length victory in the Wensum Novices' Hurdle at Fakenham on Sunday.

We always love going to Fakenham, not just because it's relatively local to us, but because at no track in the country would one find a warmer welcome on a very cold January day. David Hunter is an excellent clerk of the course and he and Sam Bullard always make us, and all participants at the course, feel really at home.

Jason Hathorn was on hand to represent his wife Fiona but sadly none of the rest of the Alhambra Partership was present to see Alcalde's impressive win. Let's hope there will be plenty more to come from him.

Rhys Flint did an excellent job standing in for our regular jockey Will Kennedy, who had to go to Hereford to ride two for his former boss Noel Chance. We were sad not to have Will there as he has done all the homework with Alcalde but there's no faulting Rhys - especially not when he boasts a 100% strike rate for this stable, having also won on Extreme Conviction last summer. He gave Alcalde a well-judged and very positive ride and we were all delighted with the result.

We only have two of Hernando's offspring in this yard but they are both winners and both absolutely lovely horses to deal with. The other one is, of course, the five-time winner Ethics Girl, who recorded yet another good run on Friday when finishing second to Exemplary, a grandson of Hernando by his French Derby-winning son Sulamani.