Busy busy busy

This is a sign of being busy: today is the 13th of the month, and I only today started drawing up July's accounts (and, although I have composed six of them, I still haven't sent any of them out).  And it's not from not needing to get them out.  But I've just been very busy - for no obvious reason, I'm afraid.  And I'm likely to be even busier, as we could have a runner on each of five consecutive days, starting tomorrow.  Whether we will end up having a runner on each of five consecutive days, though, is another matter, but we will (almost certainly) have a horse declared on each of five consecutive days.

First cab off the rank will be Wasabi at Ffos Las tomorrow.  God willing, she should be a definite runner.  That'll be a test of stamina for her as it's a long race and the ground could be quite testing; and it'll be a test of stamina in the other sense, because Chepstow is 190+ miles away, and the race is at 7.55 pm.  Friday's runner is more local (at Nottingham, 100 miles from Newmarket) but is less certain to take part: Zarosa doesn't like fast ground and the ground has already dried from 'soft, good to soft in places' to 'good' in a day, so another couple of dry, breezy days ...??

Saturday's runner ought definitely to take part, as Indira shouldn't mind the ground at Ripon, whatever it is.  But Sunday's runner, or potential runner, isn't a definite contender: Russian Link doesn't seem happy either galloping or jumping on fast ground, so she won't be declared (at declaration time on Friday morning) if the ground is faster than good; and if it is faster than good on raceday, she won't run.  The forecast is very uncertain - "sunshine and scattered showers" could mean anything - and my feeling is that she's odds-on to be declared, but odds-against to run.  We'll see.  I'd love to run her as mares' novices' hurdles are few and far between at this time of year, but running her on ground firmer than good would not be wise.

Monday's intended runner ought definitely to take part, fingers crossed: Gift Of Silence seems very reliable and resilient, and unaffected by variations in ground.  She's in a seller at Windsor on Monday night and, notwithstanding that two of the entrants are very well in compared to all the others on official ratings, she ought to run.  God only knows what the ground will be by then, but it's good that she is a horse for whom it doesn't matter.  The weather has been really changeable since the weekend's monsoons (we have the aftermath of Hurricane Bertha, so it's windier than I'd like, and lacking the settled feeling one likes to have in summer) but for this horse at least we don't need to be scratching our heads in bewilderment at the ever-confusing ground and weather updates.