How much frost?

We've got an anxious overnight wait now until tomorrow morning, when we'll discover if Warwick can survive another night of frost to be raceable in the afternoon. Amazingly, it seems that they were raceable at 8.30 this morning, so let's hope that the same situation can pertain tomorrow and that Ex Con can have the chance to make his debut. It will be disappointing if he can't, but there's no point in worrying about things which are out of one's control (although that's a maxim which is easier said than observed). I just hope that it is less cold at Warwick than it is here, which seems to be the case as there would have been no possibility of racing here today: anything - taps, water, the ground - which was in the shade remained frozen solid all day. Mind you, there's a lot to be said for frost if it makes the place dry, and when we went to see Struck Lucky and Batgirl in the Fordhams' field this afternoon both horses looked very content.

As I was after Kadouchski's run on Sunday - content and proud. He is just so honest: as genuine as Il Principe was, and that's saying something. It was a very good and brave run to be a close third in a very competitive handicap hurdle, ridden very well by William as usual. The only cloud on the day's horizon (metaphorically, because literally there were clouds galore on a very cold, bleak, grey day) was the fact that I am far from convinced that he did actually finish third: to the naked eye, and on the video replays, it appeared that he definitely passed the post in second position. I was rather taken aback when the result of the photo for second came through, announcing that he had finished third. I should have chased it up on the day really, but were in the last on a bitterly cold day, run as dusk was falling, and by the time I went along to the weighing room afterwards there was, understandably, no sign of any officials. Nor was there a print of the photo on display, which I believe there should have been. So I went home feeling slightly perturbed. My misgivings then subsequently solidified when I watched the ATR replay. I called the BHA office yesterday to ask to discuss my suspicion that either the photo has been misread or (more likely) the photo-finish was not lined up correctly (which could easily happen as Leicester is one of those courses like Sandown where the finish can be confusing because the hurdles track and the steeplechase track each approach the line from different angles, meaning that there are two winning lines - and as the previous race was a steeplechase, it is perfectly possible that the photo-finish for our race was not taken on the correct line, which would be a serious error in the modern era of photo-finish equipment which can separate horses to the millimetre). Anyway, I asked to discuss this with someone, and also whether a copy of the photo-finish could be emailed to me, which I think should be feasible and permissable, because doing so would be fairly straightforward, and because, as I understand it, connections have the right to see the print if their horse is involved, which didn't appear to be feasible at the races. And as I am owner as well as trainer, I think that I ought to qualify for that.

Disappointingly, I can't tell you the outcome of my request because there hasn't yet been one. It was quite late in the day when I called yesterday and the woman in the BHA who took the call told me that there was nobody in the office at the time who could help me, but that someone would call me back tomorrow (ie today). And that, of course, has not happened. Still, I'm (semi-)sure that I'll hear tomorrow. I believe that the BHA prides itself on its accountability, and on its record of responding to any queries, so I hope that I'll hear from someone, especially as I'd like to think that I wouldn't be regarded as someone who just complains for the sake of it: in fourteen years of training, I've never put in a post-race objection, nor have ever had a jockey do so, so would like to think that I would be seen as only raising a query like this if there was the possibility of it being a valid query. And one would hope that the regulators would be sufficiently conscientious (as well as sufficiently courteous) at least to look into what I'd like to think is a fairly sensible observation/query: one would hope that being sure that the correct finishing order is given out, and is seen to be given out, is considered worthy of attention. We'll see. It will probably, of course, turn out that the photo-finish was read correctly and that the apparatus was lined up correctly, and that the clear impression that Kadouchski had passed the post in second place was an optical illusion (even though he was farther from the stands, and optical illusions in close finishes tend to be flattering to the horse closer to the observer) - but it would be nice just to know that this was the case.