Scratched

We're running Anis at Goodwood on Thursday, which is very fortunate as it has saved me from exposing my unfitness in the Heath Run the same evening. Our team was meant to be the two Angels and I, but I'm afraid that they'll have to find another weak link in my absence. I had actually done a small amount of training prior to finding out that I would be a scratching - including one particularly satisfying run with the Angels which gave a strong suggestion that, if there was to be a weak link in our team, it probably wouldn't be I, which discovery came as much as a surprise to me as it did as a shock to them - but I've been happy enough to take things a bit more easily now that the pressure is off. Anyway, I'll be driving back from Goodwood when all that exertion takes place, so I'll be spared the indignity of crossing the finishing line about ten minutes behind Paul Holley, and of being as stiff as a board on Friday morning.

Someone else who's been doing some fitness work is Andrew McCarthy, who visited us for a couple of mornings earlier this week. He's a friend of one of Newmarket's resident brahmameisters, Mark McStay - and, despite being one of Mark's friends, he takes fitness quite seriously, not least because he plans shortly to resurrect his race-riding career. He was at the British Racing School on Tuesday for a refresher course prior to having his permit renewed and rode out here beforehand, as this photograph of him (alongside Aisling) shows. I think that the plan is that he might have a ride at Plumpton on Sunday, so we'll be cheering him on if that is the case. But we've got plenty to worry about before then, starting with Anis' run tomorrow and then continuing (assuming he isn't eliminated) with Ex Con at Aintree on Friday night.