Heading home with Marvin and hope

How successful was our trip to Huntingdon? Not at all. How disastrous was it? Same answer. Like so many things in life, it could have been better, but it could also have been a lot worse. Our Racing UK is playing up so I've only seen Jack's race live (mostly from ground level on the side of the track) plus a TV replay at the course - of which I only needed to watch 20 seconds - and I've only watched Lady Suffragette's race live, but I think I've seen enough. It's hard to work out exactly what happened at the first fence of Jack's race, but I think I've pieced it together. Basically Jack seemed to approach the fence OK, seemed to jump it OK, if a touch cautiously, and then he skidded to the ground in a melee in which he seemed as much culprit as victim. It became clearer once Jonjo O'Neill had filled me in how he understood the incident: Tony McCoy had related to him that their horse had propped suddenly going into the fence and had lurched over the fence diagonally and slowly, colliding with Jack to cause the melee of which Jack was the primary victim, with the two horses which Jack brought down then being the secondary victims. And that was that, apart from the gallop twice around the track which the trio of loose horses enjoyed before they eventually ground to a halt.

If anything, I enjoyed watching the following race even less than I'd enjoyed watching Jack's. It was clear from an early stage that Lady Suffragette was going to give herself a very tough run and would finish the race weakening and tired. She didn't get covered up at any stage and thus inevitably over-raced, which has happened two or three times on the flat but which I didn't expect ever to be an issue over jumps, other than the time when she found herself left in front at the first hurdle at Towcester when her rivals were so green that they all approached the jump in the manner of McCoy's novice chaser yesterday, and the small field thus opened up like the Red Sea in front of her. (Would that that had been the situation with Jack yesterday, rather than closing around him like the Red Sea did on the Egyptians once the Israelites had passed through!). Anyway, no real harm done. One can tell today that Lady S has been in the wars a bit, but that's nothing that a few quiet days won't cure. And Jack seems A1. Tom and I have discussed yesterday's races, and I'm confident that the same mistake won't be made when he rides Lady Suffragette next time, so we now look forward with hope.

Apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? Well, apart from watching the races, it was a very enjoyable trip to Huntingdon. We had a great gathering: Trevor and Sheila Deadman of the Premier Cru, Lawrence Wadey, Aisling O'Neill, Gordon and Pat Kenny, James Dowsett, Roger and Zoe Vicarage, Suze Ingle with Bilkie's new keeper Amanda, Jamie Trotter and Camilla Millbank. Plus plenty of the usual friendly faces that one might have expected to see there. An added bonus was Lawrence staying here overnight afterwards, so we had a drink in Cambridge on the way home and then dined in the pub in Fordham, where the coincidental presence of Ted and Sue Durcan was an extra bonus.

I now hope my next trip will be similarly convivial but contrastingly successful. Tomorrow Martha and I will be heading across the border with Marvin Gardens, who is engaged in the last race at Musselburgh on Thursday. Twelve furlongs will be a big step into the unknown, but I feel he ought to rise to the challenge. He certainly should be very, very competitive if everything goes right. It certainly wouldn't be the biggest shock if he were to salute, certainly not as far as his jockey will be concerned: David Allan is best remembered, in my mind at any rate, for riding a 100/1 winner for Stuart Williams a couple of years ago. Whatever happens, we should remember how lucky we are to have Marvin enjoying an active life, as I had reason to recall this morning when flicking through his passport and chancing upon some veterinary letters placed there three years ago when the horse was a yearling. You might have picked up references previously to Marvin's innate skin disorder, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. How about these for some veterinary opinions? "It tends to be dramatically progressive and the prognosis is extremely poor. It is unlikely that the colts' (sic) skin will be able to stand breaking and tack ... There is no treatment for the disorder and therefore when progresses (sic) the only realistic option is euthanasia." I find the sentence which follows this rather amusing: "Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any further help with this matter"! (I must, incidentally, at this point pay tribute to the horses' former trainer Phil McEntee for getting Marvin broken and training him for two years without signficant problems, which was a far harder task than the one which we have had, because by the time he reached us he was well accustomed to tack so had reached the stage where he didn't need to wear it for long periods). So there you are. Marvin, you bewdy, by your continued enjoyment of an active life you continue to confound the veterinary world. Good on yer: keep passing the open windows.