Let's see what tomorrow brings

We've got a busy day tomorrow because, not having had a runner for three weeks or so, we'll go from one extreme to the other: we'll have three runners, with Gift Of Silence and Wasabi heading to Yarmouth and Zarosa going to Notthingham.  All are five-year-old mares and all are having their first Flat race of the year, although only two of them are resuming: Wasabi has already run three times in 2014, all over hurdles.  Fitness, therefore, shouldn't be an issue for her; and it shouldn't be for Zarosa either, who has done plenty of work.  Gift Of Silence (who appears in two of this paragraph's three photographs, all taken yesterday) is, though, a more speculative competitor on that score, as by conventional reckoning she isn't as fit as the other two, and has done a lot less fast work than they have.

However, they're both running in staying races, while she's a short-distance runner, so it's worth taking a chance on seeing how she'll run while she's definitely more fresh than fit.  She's a tall, long, lanky mare who gets too light easily, and so it's easy to see why she runs well fresh (as was the case last season).  So, when I saw that tomorrow's race, at a course where she generally runs very well, had only attracted seven entries and had been re-opened, it made sense to stick her in it and let her take her chance in a small, weak field, rather than stay at home and have a gallop the same day.  And if she were to end up winning it - well, I'm not expecting that, but stranger things have happened.

I'm actually not expecting any of them to win tomorrow, because when one is on the 'Cold List' and hasn't trained a winner for over seven months, one has rather gone beyond the stage of expecting any of them to win.  But I do in truth expect all the horses to run creditably, so let's hope that we're not disappointed.  I don't know exactly what the ground will be - probably good at Nottingham and a touch faster at Yarmouth, and in truth I'd prefer each place to be slightly softer than that - because predicting the ground at present is even harder than usual, because some places seem to be getting a lot of rain, while some (ie here) are getting very, very little.  And it's hard to know in advance what is going to fall where, and when.  And never mind tomorrow's racing: we''ll also have to wait and see whether any falls on the Rowley Mile in advance of the Guineas races this weekend - but on recent form, I wouldn't bank on any appearing.