It's Christmas Day (hence the Santa hats which we all, bar Gus, sported yesterday - and today, in my case) and I'd have to say that I'm rather tired. Three runners (two of them at farther-away-than-usual venues) on three consecutive days allied to Anthony's pre-Christmas visit (which was great - but he certainly keeps one on one's toes!) wore me out. So Christmas, a day supposedly for relative relaxation, arrived, I dropped my guard and - oomph, I feel as if I've been run over by a steam-roller. Still, I had better buck myself up, not just because there is still plenty of work to do here today, but also because there's a busy day ahead. Alcalde, Hugh and Emma will head off to Kempton in the morning in Ian Watkinson's horsebox, while I'll hit the north-bound road shortly afterwards, taking Kadouchski to Market Rasen. It could be a good day or it could be a bad day; and time will tell.
Our three trips to the races last week produced various degrees of satisfaction. The outing to Taunton wasn't a disaster as nothing went wrong, but Dr Darcey ran a very poor race which was disappointing. I thought that he should have run better than that, and in retrospect I still think that he should have run better than that - but he didn't (through no fault of his rider, I should add, who rode him exactly as asked). I suppose one could say that it was just a long way to
go to be reminded that horses, in the famous words of the late, great George Hanlon, are "only human". Still, the weather was mild and dry, the ground was good, and Taunton is a very pleasant spot. Particularly for dogs, as Gus and I discovered when we were merely one of several dogs scampering around the track before racing. Some courses can be given a 'should try harder' in the welcome which they extend to canine visitors, but it would be impossible to fault Taunton in this respect. It's gone straight to the top of Gus' chart, at least.
Wednesday's trip to Wolverhampton proved far more straightforward. Dr Darcey's mini-me Karma Chameleon might be very small, but he is as straightforward and genuine a little horse as one could find. Even though he was racing off a 6lb higher mark (courtesy of his penalty) than when he'd won at Kempton six days previously, he looked to have a very strong chance as this was a much weaker race. And it became clear once we reached the parade ring (eventually, having again had to return to the weighing room during the saddling procedure for some smaller girths) that the opposition really was weak. The top two in the weights had form only at Southwell
and only in claimers respectively; while the Arab-owned Authorized filly, who had been napped by Diomed in the Racing Post on the basis of seeming to have had three quietish runs in maiden races to qualify for what might be a lenient handicap mark, was clearly still extremely backward. In fact, the only horse who looked physically as if he might put up a bold show was Orwellian, whose form was ordinary. And, anyway, he looked and was bred to be a sprinter, so the 8.5 furlongs didn't look his go; and, during the race, he duly travelled easily before getting very tired. And that was pretty much it as regards our opponents: they just dropped away in
the final 500m, leaving Karma to come home six lengths in front. There must be an element of embarrassment for a jockey in winning a handicap by six lengths, but it wasn't really Shane's fault: one couldn't have predicted how quickly the horses around him would slow down, and our horse did look to lose concentration when he was left in front at the top of straight, so it was the correct thing to do to give him a smack to ensure that he continued to concentrate. And then he just sort of shot clear. So that was all grand: an excellent win by a lovely little horse. As he seemed to pull up from the race very well and as he will surely now be in line for a hefty hike in the weights, the decision to enter him again this week (Southwell on Thursday) was an easy one.
Thursday's trip to Hereford with Asterisk ranks about halfway between the other two trips as regards its satisfactoriness. Asterisk didn't win and wasn't placed, but she ran very well. Although she'd been third last time, this looked a very hot mares' novice race and she was duly 50/1 in a 16-horse field. So to finish fifth has to be regarded as good. And she did everything right in the race, tried very hard and really seemed to relish her work. She was a long way behind the fourth, but the ground
was like quicksand in places, and the margins are inevitably very exaggerated under such conditions. It was years since I'd been to Hereford, but I'd obviously watched racing there on TV umpteen times in the interim; and watching it on TV tells one that in winter the ground is about as bad as it gets. However, while it clearly was very heavy, it had been looked after very well, and it was as good as it possibly could have been, if that makes sense. A few other courses could take note of the effort
which had clearly been put in to make sure that the racing surface was level, at least. Anyway, the real highlight of the day was the weather: it was glorious. There was snow on the hills in the distance, but raceday was like a proper spring day, sunny and warm. I had a lovely walk around the track with Gus, and then Anthony and I had another walk on it, and all in all it was just a pleasure to be there. And the final stages of the drive, the last 20 miles or so through lovely countryside, were lovely in that weather too.
So those were our pre-Christmas outings. Christmas Day is a very mild one as is suggested by this photograph of my view across the Severals between Kadouchski's ears on my way home during second lot, a far cry from the snow and frost of last year, and that helps too. The only downside is that I'm worn out, but hopefully that is something which can be overcome with plenty of sleep. The run-up to Christmas has all gone well, so now we just have to hope that that the next few days, starting with our two Boxing Day runners, can also produce satisfactory outcomes. Happy Christmas, one and all.
It's Christmas Day (hence the Santa hats which we all, bar Gus, sported yesterday - and today, in my case) and I'd have to say that I'm rather tired. Three runners (two of them at farther-away-than-usual venues) on three consecutive days allied to Anthony's pre-Christmas visit (which was great - but he certainly keeps one on one's toes!) wore me out. So Christmas, a day supposedly for relative relaxation, arrived, I dropped my guard and - oomph, I feel as if I've been run over by a steam-roller. Still, I had better buck myself up, not just because there is still plenty of work to do here today, but also because there's a busy day ahead. Alcalde, Hugh and Emma will head off to Kempton in the morning in Ian Watkinson's horsebox, while I'll hit the north-bound road shortly afterwards, taking Kadouchski to Market Rasen. It could be a good day or it could be a bad day; and time will tell.
Our three trips to the races last week produced various degrees of satisfaction. The outing to Taunton wasn't a disaster as nothing went wrong, but Dr Darcey ran a very poor race which was disappointing. I thought that he should have run better than that, and in retrospect I still think that he should have run better than that - but he didn't (through no fault of his rider, I should add, who rode him exactly as asked). I suppose one could say that it was just a long way to 
go to be reminded that horses, in the famous words of the late, great George Hanlon, are "only human". Still, the weather was mild and dry, the ground was good, and Taunton is a very pleasant spot. Particularly for dogs, as Gus and I discovered when we were merely one of several dogs scampering around the track before racing. Some courses can be given a 'should try harder' in the welcome which they extend to canine visitors, but it would be impossible to fault Taunton in this respect. It's gone straight to the top of Gus' chart, at least.
Wednesday's trip to Wolverhampton proved far more straightforward. Dr Darcey's mini-me Karma Chameleon might be very small, but he is as straightforward and genuine a little horse as one could find. Even though he was racing off a 6lb higher mark (courtesy of his penalty) than when he'd won at Kempton six days previously, he looked to have a very strong chance as this was a much weaker race. And it became clear once we reached the parade ring (eventually, having again had to return to the weighing room during the saddling procedure for some smaller girths) that the opposition really was weak. The top two in the weights had form only at Southwell 
and only in claimers respectively; while the Arab-owned Authorized filly, who had been napped by Diomed in the Racing Post on the basis of seeming to have had three quietish runs in maiden races to qualify for what might be a lenient handicap mark, was clearly still extremely backward. In fact, the only horse who looked physically as if he might put up a bold show was Orwellian, whose form was ordinary. And, anyway, he looked and was bred to be a sprinter, so the 8.5 furlongs didn't look his go; and, during the race, he duly travelled easily before getting very tired. And that was pretty much it as regards our opponents: they just dropped away in 
the final 500m, leaving Karma to come home six lengths in front. There must be an element of embarrassment for a jockey in winning a handicap by six lengths, but it wasn't really Shane's fault: one couldn't have predicted how quickly the horses around him would slow down, and our horse did look to lose concentration when he was left in front at the top of straight, so it was the correct thing to do to give him a smack to ensure that he continued to concentrate. And then he just sort of shot clear. So that was all grand: an excellent win by a lovely little horse. As he seemed to pull up from the race very well and as he will surely now be in line for a hefty hike in the weights, the decision to enter him again this week (Southwell on Thursday) was an easy one.
Thursday's trip to Hereford with Asterisk ranks about halfway between the other two trips as regards its satisfactoriness. Asterisk didn't win and wasn't placed, but she ran very well. Although she'd been third last time, this looked a very hot mares' novice race and she was duly 50/1 in a 16-horse field. So to finish fifth has to be regarded as good. And she did everything right in the race, tried very hard and really seemed to relish her work. She was a long way behind the fourth, but the ground 
was like quicksand in places, and the margins are inevitably very exaggerated under such conditions. It was years since I'd been to Hereford, but I'd obviously watched racing there on TV umpteen times in the interim; and watching it on TV tells one that in winter the ground is about as bad as it gets. However, while it clearly was very heavy, it had been looked after very well, and it was as good as it possibly could have been, if that makes sense. A few other courses could take note of the effort 
which had clearly been put in to make sure that the racing surface was level, at least. Anyway, the real highlight of the day was the weather: it was glorious. There was snow on the hills in the distance, but raceday was like a proper spring day, sunny and warm. I had a lovely walk around the track with Gus, and then Anthony and I had another walk on it, and all in all it was just a pleasure to be there. And the final stages of the drive, the last 20 miles or so through lovely countryside, were lovely in that weather too.
So those were our pre-Christmas outings. Christmas Day is a very mild one as is suggested by this photograph of my view across the Severals between Kadouchski's ears on my way home during second lot, a far cry from the snow and frost of last year, and that helps too. The only downside is that I'm worn out, but hopefully that is something which can be overcome with plenty of sleep. The run-up to Christmas has all gone well, so now we just have to hope that that the next few days, starting with our two Boxing Day runners, can also produce satisfactory outcomes. Happy Christmas, one and all.
2 comments:
Hope you got some well earned rest John good luck for the New Year.
Cheers. Let's hope that 2012 is kind to us all.
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