Doing fine

Goodwood Tuesday (yesterday) was a repeat of Yarmouth Monday, really: just as had been the case with Ollie at Yarmouth the previous day, Silken Thoughts (pictured with Cathy Gannon in the parade ring) wasn't up to it yesterday but she wasn't disgraced.  He wasn't disgraced because he's still a baby and possibly was finding the ground against him, while for her it was merely the case that those valuable big-field handicaps at the big festival meetings are so fiercely competitive that not making the frame is nothing to be ashamed of.  She finished towards the rear, but she had some good horses finishing around her, and she'll find things a lot easier back in a normal decent handicap next time.  She did her best and gave all connected with her the honour of competing at Glorious Goodwood.  And that's fine.

All connected with her, of course, includes Gus, who really enjoyed his trip.  Goodwood sets the standard in so many ways, but right up there is the fact of maintaining a few hundred acres of parkland for the enjoyment of visiting dogs, who can find all sorts of things which need to be investigated in the woodland.  As it was overcast, even showery early on, we didn't see Goodwood in particular and Sussex in general at its midsummer best - but that's praising with faint damnation, because even on an overcast day it's a glorious place in a glorious part of the country, which it's always a pleasure to visit, particularly in summertime.  And it's great when Gus can enjoy it too.

But the main highlight of yesterday was another little milestone in what we hope might be Panto's recovery.  He's still not out of the woods, but he's much perkier and, more importantly, there is some restoration of gut function in that fluids (now taken orally as well as intravenously) are now passing through him, which is a massive step forward.  Of course, getting solid food into and through him is another thing altogether so we won't count our chickens because it is far from guaranteed that the progress made over the past couple of days will be extended - but progress is better than regress so we'll allow ourselves to continue to hope.  He (pictured today) is still with us (thanks entirely to the skill and dedication of Mark Hillyer and several of his colleagues at NEH) and where there's life, there's hope.  So let's hope he can continue to fight back - and, on a less life-or-death scale, let's hope that the next few runners, starting with Zarosa tomorrow, can thrive.