Conservative has settled into my yard really well since arriving back in September.

We have not had any problems with him, and I didn’t expect there to be as we had him thoroughly checked over by our vet before we bought him, which I suppose is the equivalent of a footballer having a fitness test before a transfer!

He did his fastest piece of work so far on Saturday. It was what I call three-quarter pace, so he is not going a full, flat-out gallop, but we are working him through the gears to see what he is capable of producing. Importantly, I was pleased with what I saw from him, he’s where I would want him to be at this stage of his preparation.

Based on that gallop on Saturday, I think he is about two to three weeks away from having his first race for us. Later this week, he is going to do another fast piece of work. What I will be hoping to see then is that he has stepped up from what he produced last time, that he’s continuing to progress. He will also have a professional jockey on board him this time, either Kieran O’Neill or Dale Swift, both of whom I rate highly and who ride for me a lot.

In terms of what distance I think Conservative will be best suited to, it is either going to be seven furlongs or a mile. I am leaning towards the latter now, but I will get a better idea of that as we ramp up his work and go a little faster. We will also start to work him alongside other horses soon, as that gives us a good idea of his optimum distance.

Both the Southwell and Wolverhampton yards are in good form at the moment. We had a winner at Southwell last week with Dark Shot on what was his 102nd appearance on the track. He showed there is life in the old boy yet. Hopefully, we can have a few more winners over the next week or so as a lot of my horses are now raring to go.

Scott Dixon