Racing Correspondent Jonathan Herbert's weekly column.

Richard Phillips believes quality rather than quantity will be the key to his success this season.

The smaller but more select team of horses at Adlestrop Stables near Stow-on-the-Wold are filling him with confidence about the season ahead.

Along with stable stalwart Pak Jack, a number of young exciting horses have been showing up well.

“We’ve got fewer horses this year but better quality and I’m really pleased with the way they’re progressing,” he said.

“If we can keep the horses healthy I’m sure we’re going to have a good year.

“A lot of the horses are quite well handicapped, like Great Hero and Just Benny.

“They’ll be going novice handicap chasing and you’d be disappointed if they weren’t winners.

“We’ve been lucky enough to have big-race winners in the past.

“People notice when you have a big winner on a Saturday and we’ve just lacked a few ‘Saturday’ horses recently, but I think among the horses we’ve got now one or two will be all right.

“We’ve had a good start and we’ve got a more select group now, which was a very conscious decision, so optimism is high.

“Some trainers are getting bigger but I think of it like being the corner shop, the boutique or the bookmaker that knows your name.

“It’s just bringing things down to a level where it’s more personalised and looking after our owners.

“We want to give them fun and success, obviously.

“In a recession there’s not a lot of money out there and people want value and they want fun.

“In every recession they still want to enjoy themselves but every pound matters.

“You’ve got work that bit harder and everyone here at Adlestrop is up for that.”

Phillips is plotting a route back to Aintree for course specialist Pak Jack.

The 11-year-old signed off last season with victory at Wetherby under Richard Johnson.

“He won his last race but we were affected, like a lot of trainers, by a very dry spring,” said Phillips.

“We had a lot of horses ready to run in March and April, but we had to bite the bullet and turn them away and then bring them back.

“Hopefully we’ll see the rewards for our patience.

“Pak Jack has come back in great nick.

“He’s a great jumper and hopefully we can get him on the track sometime in October and the Becher Chase (December 3) will be a target for him because he’s great around Aintree.”

Phillips believes Phardessa is capable of winning a big race this season.

The five-time winner was beaten in a photo-finish on her first run for two years at Ffos Las last term.

Phillips said: “Next time out she had a silly mishap at the first, but on the whole she’s a very good jumper and the softer the ground the better.”

Thornton Alice rounded off last season with a win under Sean Quinlan in testing conditions at Newcastle.

Phillips believes the six-year-old could be a horse to follow in mares’ handicaps over hurdles this term.

“She’s a tough nut by local stallion Kayf Tara and a lot of his mares do very well,” he said.

“She jumps hurdles extremely well and has physically improved since last year.

“She won in very soft ground at Newcastle but doesn’t need very soft ground.”

Phillips said King Jack was potentially well handicapped – “We’ve never had him in better form” – while Whichever had benefited from her last run at Fontwell and looks a useful prospect for mares’ races over hurdles.