Another busy week

It's looking as if all the possible runners in our busy week are running, so that's Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday all having outings.  That's a lot of time away from home when there's plenty to be done here - but then it's good to have runners, because if we didn't, then there wouldn't really be a lot of point to things.  However, it was good to have a day at home today, even if being at home seemed anything but good at dawn as the storms of the night continued to rage.  Those who peddle the myth of it being 'too windy to rain' tend to get undermined by the concept of driving rain, and that's what we had at the start of the day.  Too many lots such as today's first lot would finish anyone off.  Which was odd as yesterday was a lovely day - and, bizarrely, so was today: it had stopped raining by about 8.00, and an hour or so later the sun was starting to come out.

So by mid-morning we had conditions as seen in these first two photographs on Long Hill, of Iva and Terri on Many Levels and Roy respectively, taken from the back of Magic Ice (the tip of whose right ear is just about visible in the first photograph - as is the tip of the tip of her left ear if you look closely enough, come to that).  So that was good.  As I said, yesterday was lovely at Leicester.  It was lovely for Platinum Proof (seen in the chapter's third and fourth photographs) too, as I think that he really enjoyed his trip to the races - or his day out, as he would have thought of it.

Yesterday's outing was very pleasant, but it was probably less lovely for us than it was for Platinum Proof (as we'll have to learn to start calling him) as it would have been nicer if he'd been a bit more fired up and had done a bit better than finish last.  But really his finishing position wasn't the end of the world: it's early days yet and, besides, if Kingston Town and Dulcify could both finish last on debut, who are we to complain about such a position?  Anyway, I thought that he was a nice horse before the race and he's still the same horse as he was yesterday morning; so, assuming that I know what I'm talking about, he's still a nice horse, his poor run notwithstanding.

So now the show moves on to Kempton tomorrow evening (at the worryingly late time of 9.00, which might mean that my eyelids will be drooping on the way home, as I can't see us being home much before midnight) and then to Fakenham the next day, where our race is startingly early at 1.00 - which would be startlingly early for the first race, never mind the third, which is what it is.  The race-times department of the BHA, like God, surely moves in mysterious ways!  Still, the journey home tomorrow will be tolerable if we run well (although I'm rather disconcerted to read that tomorrow's Racing Post Spotlight writer is "reasonably happy to whittle this field down to three key players" - and that Zarosa isn't one of the three).

Let's hope that that pundit is wrong - and then let's hope that Fakenham doesn't cop too much more rain over the next 40 hours, because it'll be tough for Ethics Girl on her hurdles debut if the ground is too soft.  She seems to jump well, as does our other mare who should shortly be making a hurdles debut (Silken Thoughts) so let's hope that home schooling proficiency can translate to on-course proficiency.  Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't.  William and Joe Akehurst were kind enough to call in yesterday to put the finishing touches to the jumping education of these two good mares (pictured in far nicer conditions in the field back on one of the few sunny days in August, with Ethics Girl closer to the camera), so now let's see how they'll fare in the heat of battle.  Starting with Ethics on Friday.