There have been a few short showers tormenting me over the past day: having decided not to declare Alcalde (pictured) for the Cesarewitch, I really didn't want to find that the forecast had been radically wrong and that we'd get plenty of rain. However, the short showers might have amounted to more than a millimetre, but not significantly more, so the ground will indeed be faster than would have been any of use to us. As I probably mentioned previously, I would really have liked to have declared him in the hope of rain and kept our options open until Saturday morning, and then scratched him if
and when the rain hadn't arrived in significant quantities, but that really wouldn't have been playing the game as regards those on the borderline of getting a run and desperately hoping that they would make the cut. As it is, several horses from our little coterie of local stables (including last year's place-getter Ocean's Minstrel and Dayia, trained by John Ryan and Lydia Pearce respectively) have ended up not declared because of the very firm ground, which is a shame as all three would have been live chances with some cut in the ground, but really there's nothing one can do about that. The going stick provides as much proof as one could require: at the Cambridgeshire meeting, where two track records were broken on the first day and where quite a lot of horses went amiss on the very firm ground, the going stick reading was 8.3; now it is 8.6 (with the higher the reading, the firmer the ground). That tells us all that we need to know.
As that photograph of Alcalde, taken this morning, shows, we're now looking at his jumping options: that picture was taken up at the Links with William on him. He'd just put him over some hurdles, along with Jamie on Asterisk. Also pictured in the first paragraph is Kadouchksi, whom William had just schooled over fences; while he also schooled Dr Darcey this morning (over hurdles). You'll note the autumnal feel to the photographs. But, relatively cold and relatively bleak though the morning was, it was good to be up there seeing these horses all jump well. And then there were two interesting sightings to brighten it further. Firstly Vince 'Smudger' Smith hove into view on horseback (riding the horse pictured here in blinkers),
which has been a rare enough sight in recent years since he swapped his jockey's license for a trainer's license (although currently he holds neither). Vince had the distinction in the '90s of riding two 50/1 hurdle race winners for me, so it was great to see him back in the saddle and back over jumps. Whether this will lead to a comeback can't be guaranteed, of course, but stranger things have happened. And then, no sooner had Vince ridden away, than three of Jim Bolger's horses (Parish Hall, Whip Rule and Janey Muddles) appeared out of the racecourse stables, which of course are situated up at the Links. They'd clearly arrived a couple of days ahead of Future Champions' Day. That is a stable which I really admire, so I really enjoyed seeing them set off for their exercise. Their participation tomorrow (in the Dewhurst, the Autumn Stakes and the Rockfel Stakes) will thus give Newmarket's excellent card an extra dimension of interest for me.
There have been a few short showers tormenting me over the past day: having decided not to declare Alcalde (pictured) for the Cesarewitch, I really didn't want to find that the forecast had been radically wrong and that we'd get plenty of rain. However, the short showers might have amounted to more than a millimetre, but not significantly more, so the ground will indeed be faster than would have been any of use to us. As I probably mentioned previously, I would really have liked to have declared him in the hope of rain and kept our options open until Saturday morning, and then scratched him if 
and when the rain hadn't arrived in significant quantities, but that really wouldn't have been playing the game as regards those on the borderline of getting a run and desperately hoping that they would make the cut. As it is, several horses from our little coterie of local stables (including last year's place-getter Ocean's Minstrel and Dayia, trained by John Ryan and Lydia Pearce respectively) have ended up not declared because of the very firm ground, which is a shame as all three would have been live chances with some cut in the ground, but really there's nothing one can do about that. The going stick provides as much proof as one could require: at the Cambridgeshire meeting, where two track records were broken on the first day and where quite a lot of horses went amiss on the very firm ground, the going stick reading was 8.3; now it is 8.6 (with the higher the reading, the firmer the ground). That tells us all that we need to know.
As that photograph of Alcalde, taken this morning, shows, we're now looking at his jumping options: that picture was taken up at the Links with William on him. He'd just put him over some hurdles, along with Jamie on Asterisk. Also pictured in the first paragraph is Kadouchksi, whom William had just schooled over fences; while he also schooled Dr Darcey this morning (over hurdles). You'll note the autumnal feel to the photographs. But, relatively cold and relatively bleak though the morning was, it was good to be up there seeing these horses all jump well. And then there were two interesting sightings to brighten it further. Firstly Vince 'Smudger' Smith hove into view on horseback (riding the horse pictured here in blinkers), 
which has been a rare enough sight in recent years since he swapped his jockey's license for a trainer's license (although currently he holds neither). Vince had the distinction in the '90s of riding two 50/1 hurdle race winners for me, so it was great to see him back in the saddle and back over jumps. Whether this will lead to a comeback can't be guaranteed, of course, but stranger things have happened. And then, no sooner had Vince ridden away, than three of Jim Bolger's horses (Parish Hall, Whip Rule and Janey Muddles) appeared out of the racecourse stables, which of course are situated up at the Links. They'd clearly arrived a couple of days ahead of Future Champions' Day. That is a stable which I really admire, so I really enjoyed seeing them set off for their exercise. Their participation tomorrow (in the Dewhurst, the Autumn Stakes and the Rockfel Stakes) will thus give Newmarket's excellent card an extra dimension of interest for me. 
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