Shower or Bath?

It was a lovely day at Bath yesterday: very warm and largely sunny, but not uncomfortably hot. The day, though, did illustrate the problems (frequently referred to in this blog) of trying to work out the rainfall.  Apparently the clerk of the course at Ascot had been told (in a 'bespoke' weather forecast, I'd imagine, which is how the clerk at Newmarket receives his predictions) to expect possible showers potentially to yield a millimetre of rain; so he must have been rather taken aback to find that Ascot received 18mm yesterday.  We had some rain here, but nothing like that amount; while Bath remained dry.  Windsor, very close to Ascot, received 15mm overnight Friday into Saturday, which should mean that Indira encounters a suitable and nice surface there tomorrow evening.

The ground, obviously, remained firm at Bath yesterday, but that proved to be no problem for Roy, whose form already suggested that a sound surface on turf suits him.  (Even if my nerves were not soothed by the first race, in which a horse broke his leg after about only two furlongs, a sight which certainly did not increase my relish for sending Roy out for the second race).  Roy had run very poorly on his three previous runs this spring, pulling too hard and then weakening badly in the closing stages, so it was a relief to see him run a normal race yesterday, settling kindly and then working home adequately, even if not well enough to finish closer than fifth.  He can now go back up in distance to the two miles at which we ran his best race last season - so, fingers crossed, we can now once more travel with hope with him.