Two trips

Two trips coming up.  Doncaster tomorrow with Grand Liaison (seen yesterday evening between Panto and Roy) and then Great Leighs the next day with Tommy (Platinum Proof).  Grand Liaison had an arguably easier option at Wolverhampton the same day, but it's been very wet in the northern half of England, so it makes sense to run a wet-tracker on turf when we can.  There are going to be enough weeks in the summer (one presumes) when the AW is our only option, so we are as well to run on the grass when we can.  So we've just got to hope that Doncaster doesn't dry up too quickly; but we should be OK, as it was "soft" yesterday morning and still just "soft, good to soft in places" this morning.  Hard to see it being firmer than good (and likely to be softer than good) at 2.40 tomorrow afternoon.

So good weather is a slight worry for Grand Liaison, and feet (again) are a slight worry for Tommy.  He hasn't run for a year and a half, and it's just about a year since he returned here.  He's spent quite a lot of the past year with sore feet, but things have been going OK recently - until today, about two hours before declaration time, he pulled a front shoe off while I was riding him.  Unbelievable.  He's slightly lame on the foot at present, but that's inevitable as he doesn't have a shoe on it.  He'll be re-shod in the morning, and I hope that he'll be sound when he has a plate on the foot.  If not he'll have to be a non-runner, but I hope that we'll be OK.  We'll see.  There's always something.