Firstly, the weather (obviously). Too much of it, I'm afraid. Oh for those recent hard frosts. You'll have worked out that it was cold at Wolverhampton on Monday, but you can cope with cold if conditions if the sunshine is as brilliant as it was then. But now? Much milder, but ever so wet. The night before last it rained all night, even if yesterday morning it did dry up for a while, with even a few hours of intermittent spring-like sunshine through the day. But come the night - well, a bit of rain last night became constant drizzle around dawn, which became solid rain all day. I'd say that we must have had a couple of inches of rain in the past three days, so unfortunately we have now (finally, admittedly - we'd usually have reached this stage at least a month ago, for which we should be thankful) reached our usual winter saturation point. I'm afraid that this property will henceforth, as of yesterday, be very wet and very muddy until spring, which probably means that we now have a couple of months of grim conditions to face. Still, worse things happen at sea; and it is, of course, wetter there too. But, oh for the ice which was baffling young Gus only four days ago. You could walk around the yard barefoot then (as long as you don't mind having very, very cold feet) but you wouldn't want to do so now.
We actually had the best of both worlds on Wednesday when we went to Southwell with Alcalde. It wasn't raining and it was very mild, which was rather pleasant. Southwell, for those who aren't familiar, is actually rather nice, but its weather is usually worse than most other places'. But on this occasion it laid on very pleasant conditions. Alcalde (pictured coming on off the track) ran OK too. He finished fourth with the first two clear of the remainder, but even so he showed enough on his first run at three miles to suggest that he should carve out a worthwhile role for himself as a staying handicap hurdler. He was still going forward as they passed the post, so I suppose in retrospect we've just got to be amazed that he was able to win (admittedly a weak race) over two miles at Fakenham. That race was nearly a year ago and in one sense it is a shade disappointing that he hasn't been able to get his head in front since then as he's had a few races, but he's generally run well enough - and this first run at three miles suggested that, granted normal luck, he might be able to add to his
tally before too long. So that was promising enough - as, I hope, will be Frankie's run at Wincanton tomorrow. One might observe that Wincanton is a long way to send a horse, but with a syndicate horse it's not a bad idea to run on a Saturday if one can as that gives more of his connections a chance to attend; and it's a National Hunt novices' hurdle, which makes sense for a horse who has never run on the Flat. So off to Wincanton we go - but unfortunately fate has decreed that it features a horse much better than one would normally face in such a race, the top-rated horse It's A Gimme being rated something like 140. That, I'm afraid, means that it's hard to see anything other than It's A Gimme winning the race. Still, it's only early days yet, so if Frankie (pictured last month looking considerably less clean than he will be tomorrow) can run a nice race, whether or not he squeaks into the money, it would be a worthwhile outing. Let's hope so.
Firstly, the weather (obviously). Too much of it, I'm afraid. Oh for those recent hard frosts. You'll have worked out that it was cold at Wolverhampton on Monday, but you can cope with cold if conditions if the sunshine is as brilliant as it was then. But now? Much milder, but ever so wet. The night before last it rained all night, even if yesterday morning it did dry up for a while, with even a few hours of intermittent spring-like sunshine through the day. But come the night - well, a bit of rain last night became constant drizzle around dawn, which became solid rain all day. I'd say that we must have had a couple of inches of rain in the past three days, so unfortunately we have now (finally, admittedly - we'd usually have reached this stage at least a month ago, for which we should be thankful) reached our usual winter saturation point. I'm afraid that this property will henceforth, as of yesterday, be very wet and very muddy until spring, which probably means that we now have a couple of months of grim conditions to face. Still, worse things happen at sea; and it is, of course, wetter there too. But, oh for the ice which was baffling young Gus only four days ago. You could walk around the yard barefoot then (as long as you don't mind having very, very cold feet) but you wouldn't want to do so now.
We actually had the best of both worlds on Wednesday when we went to Southwell with Alcalde. It wasn't raining and it was very mild, which was rather pleasant. Southwell, for those who aren't familiar, is actually rather nice, but its weather is usually worse than most other places'. But on this occasion it laid on very pleasant conditions. Alcalde (pictured coming on off the track) ran OK too. He finished fourth with the first two clear of the remainder, but even so he showed enough on his first run at three miles to suggest that he should carve out a worthwhile role for himself as a staying handicap hurdler. He was still going forward as they passed the post, so I suppose in retrospect we've just got to be amazed that he was able to win (admittedly a weak race) over two miles at Fakenham. That race was nearly a year ago and in one sense it is a shade disappointing that he hasn't been able to get his head in front since then as he's had a few races, but he's generally run well enough - and this first run at three miles suggested that, granted normal luck, he might be able to add to his 
tally before too long. So that was promising enough - as, I hope, will be Frankie's run at Wincanton tomorrow. One might observe that Wincanton is a long way to send a horse, but with a syndicate horse it's not a bad idea to run on a Saturday if one can as that gives more of his connections a chance to attend; and it's a National Hunt novices' hurdle, which makes sense for a horse who has never run on the Flat. So off to Wincanton we go - but unfortunately fate has decreed that it features a horse much better than one would normally face in such a race, the top-rated horse It's A Gimme being rated something like 140. That, I'm afraid, means that it's hard to see anything other than It's A Gimme winning the race. Still, it's only early days yet, so if Frankie (pictured last month looking considerably less clean than he will be tomorrow) can run a nice race, whether or not he squeaks into the money, it would be a worthwhile outing. Let's hope so.
1 comment:
Good luck for wincanton john, I saw alcalde's race and I thought it was a race full of potential, going well 2-3furlongs out I thought thefront 2 maybe quickened away and the horse stayed on well, I would like to think the horse will be winning soon,
I must mention leonna mayor who rode a cracking race in the 7.30 wolverhampton on kyncraighe, I thought she won the race with her manouvre just before the bend turning for home, I wouldnt say she was on the best horse in the race and I was impressed and think she is worth her claim. I have also noticed that James Doyle is doing very well overseas, he is a jockey I mentioned previously who I rate very highly.
Also a mention for John Egan who was riding at wolverhampton although his ride finished third, it was a typically good ride.
Keep up the good work,
thanks
Ian
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