I am always pleased to get a call from Mark Costello of The Irish Field but was surprised that he called in search of another autumn diary from me as there is no ludicrous athletic training programme to record this year. However, hopefully the busy sales season ahead will throw up the odd anecdote that is worth sharing.

Last year’s diary was largely focussed on the Katie Nugent Duathlon in aid of a fund that my wife Alice and I established in memory of our daughter, who died from leukaemia in 2010.

I am glad to say that, in the intervening period, Alice oversaw the conversion of a derelict yard besides St John’s Ward in Crumlin into a stunning garden of benefit to patients and their families. The project manager was Christy Collard who helped Mary Reynolds build the first Irish garden to win the gold medal at the 2002 Chelsea Flower Show.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7th

A priority for Goffs now is the Champions Sale before racing on Saturday, September 13th at Leopardstown. It is limited to a maximum of 20 horses in training, and the nature of these boutique sales is that demand for places only comes in the last four weeks before the sale.

As a result there are always a few sleepless nights in advance waiting for the right horses to come! I see a few horses that I think could attract a good price if offered at auction - all of which are still under discussion.

A good crowd builds throughout the evening in anticipation of Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths) who is playing as part of the Bulmers live at Leopardstown series.

Having never been much of a Smiths fan, I head home to Westmeath.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8th

Alice and I head back to Dublin to the RDS for the Aga Khan trophy. Goffs have sponsored the Pocket area so I call in to say hello to Andrew Nolan, who has taken his need to be on-site so seriously that there seems to have been little interval between his Thursday finish and his Friday start! Alice and I are invited to lunch in the Four Seasons Hotel where we bump into Jonathan Irwin - former Goffs boss and now a tireless leader of the Jack & Jill Foundation. He is currently lobbying hard against the building of the new Children’s Hospital at St James, in favour of Blanchardstown, and we support his position. I just hope that nobody reading this ever has to experience the panic of getting through the traffic into the city and then trying to find a parking space with a seriously sick child.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9th to SATURDAY, AUGUST 16th

We head off to Connemara for a week with three other families. ‘Family fun’ includes four attempts at the Ballyconeely nine-hole golf course, where I think I broke the record for lost balls, and 45km on a bicycle that, between the distance and the shape of the seat, left me unable to walk or sit for several hours!

The Clifden/Ballyconneely area is stunning, though diminished by ubiquitous random houses that should serve as a warning to those in favour of pylons and wind turbines just how easy it is to scar the golden asset that is the Irish landscape.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17th

The racing world is focussed on Deauville today where the yearling sales opened last night. This is my first August Sale since 2006 at which I am not auctioneering and, needless to say, my absence coincides with some excellent results in the sale ring! Hopefully these will carry on through the yearling sale season.

Therefore I will not be taking a bicycle ride through the leafy streets of Deauville to the town’s racecourse where I might witness Zarkava’s sister win the Group 3 and Kingman confirm his brilliance in the Group 1. Instead I head north to another seaside track, Dundalk!

Many of the key players in Irish racing are here today, along with a decent (though largely indoor) crowd. I talk with trainers including Messrs Lyons, O’Brien, Halford, Lynam, Oliver, Murphy and O’Callaghan, plus the senior representatives of the Aga Khan, Sheikh Mohammed and Singapore’s leading owner Dr Tan. The winning owners on the day include such international names as Godolphin, Team Valor and Zhang Yuesheng but Paula Davison from Killarkin Stud is the most excited owner of the day when winning the 50-70 handicap with Moonmeister.

As every report from France seems to refer to the restaurants there, honourable mention must go to the €7 chicken goujons and chips that I enjoyed in the self-service – as good as they could be and for less than the price of an ice cream in Deauville!

MONDAY, AUGUST 18th & TUESDAY, AUGUST 19th

A Goffs management meeting in the morning where we discuss operations at the Orby Sale, entries for the November Sale and of course plans for the sale at Leopardstown, for which Sean Flannery produces a list of every three-year-old in Ireland with a rating over 90 - which we will follow up over the next week.

The Orby catalogue arrives and I go through it properly for the first time. So much depends on the looks of the yearlings but, if those match up, there are plenty of pedigrees that suggest big racing careers.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20th

I start the day looking at some foals in Co Westmeath and then head to the office to respond to some enquiries from trainers about the Champions Sale - hopefully these will build over the next 10 days. Auctioneer Bernard Condren calls into the office, on a four-day break from the Racing UK studio in London, and we watch York together. The magnificent Australia wins the big race and the television cuts to his trainer with the familiar telephone in his hand. I stare at my own telephone on the desk, wlling it to ring and for me to then hear, “Nick, Aidan here, any chance that you would have a place for Australia in that Champions Sale?”