Well the Flat season is coming to a close and the National Hunt season is just warming up. And what a fantastic climax to the Flat season it was, watching Frankel winning his 14th race and retiring to stud unbeaten. He was just an amazing horse. I was lucky enough to see him at Royal Ascot this year and for me he is definitely the best I've seen in my lifetime.

Only 10 days after the retirement of one the greatest Flat horses we've ever seen, this morning brought the news that Kauto Star - one of the greatest jump horses of all time - has been retired too. He was a phenomenal racehorse who did so much for the sport of National Hunt racing. Kauto just oozed class and, although he did make the odd heart-stopping mistake, he was on the whole a magnificent jumper with an amazing amount of scope. He is definitely one of the horses I would have loved to have had the opportunity to have ridden.

I have a painting up in my living room of me on Time For Rupert jumping a fence upsides Kauto down the back straight in Haydock last season, with Long Run in third. This is one of my prized possessions and just shows the scope that this horse had. His achievements on the racecourse were second to none and it is great to see him retire a healthy horse. Kauto, you deserve a very happy retirement.

It's been a very long summer - well, if you can call it that - and I am very much itching to get going now. The last couple of weeks have picked up for me, with rides nearly every day, and I'm extremely busy riding out in the mornings, driving all over the country to school horses trying to secure some nice rides for the winter. This is where I am so lucky to have such a fantastic sponsor in Paul Reason and his company Mayiclaim who supply me with my car and whom without would definitely make my job a struggle.

As I have written in previous blogs, I have struck up a great partnership with Mick Channon - and fingers crossed we can keep our very good start to the season up throughout the winter months. Mick, who is predominantly a Flat trainer, has taken over from Henrietta Knight and is going to have around 20 jumpers for the coming season and will be where I will be focusing most of my time, riding out there Tuesdays and Fridays. Other trainers I will be riding for are Violet Jordan, Alex Hales, John Berry and pretty much anyone else that wants me! Have saddle, will travel.

I also said in previous blogs that I'd give you some horses to look out for over the coming season. Well I'm very much looking forward to this coming weekend where I'll be riding two horses I hope will provide me with a couple of wins through the season. First is a novice chaser call Ballypatrick, who runs at Ascot on Saturday. He's having his first run over fences and looks like he's going to make into a lover chaser. The second is a little mare that John Berry trains called Ethics Girl that runs at Huntingdon on Sunday. She was above average on the Flat and took really well to hurdling on her debut at Fakenham a couple of weeks ago, so I am hoping it won't be to long before she will be winning. I am hoping to pick up a few more rides over the weekend but there's two for you to keep an eye on.

So until such time, wrap up warm because the mornings are definitely getting colder.

William

Follow William Kennedy on twitter @wtkjockey