Monk's Gold-en moment

THE CLOUDS over the Bristol Channel are ominous looking, brim full of the forecasted snow.

The bitter easterly wind is keeping them at bay for the moment and Sandhill Stables is consequently bathed in a watery-weak sunshine as the final morning lot of Philip Hobbs' string make their way out towards the distant uphill gallops.

Despite the sun, the cold is bitter as the lads and lasses, adorned in their blue stable wind-cheaters, and blue helmets uniformly ease their way along a red marl track.