Keep trying

Fruitless trip to Catterick yesterday, but even that wasn't time wasted.  I'd always thought that Indira, like her half-brother Rhythm Stick, would relish wet tracks.  However, she'd mostly raced on fast ground, and raced well on it.  We'd struck a wet track - maybe good to soft or slightly softer - last time and she'd run OK to finish fourth, but even then she's raised slight doubts as she hadn't finished the race off too well.  But at the same time she hadn't run badly enough to preclude running on a wet track again.  So we had another go yesterday.  Officially it was good to soft, soft in places, but basically it was heavy, and she couldn't go on it at all. Our race was 11.24 seconds slower than standard, while the two divisions of the two-miler were 20.58 and 24.28 seconds slower than standard.  So the trip was a non-event - but not time wasted, because at least we learned not to run her on a bog again.  (And don't be misled by this photo about the conditions: she and Franny Norton are clean in it, but this was taken pre-race).

Let's hope that tomorrow's outing will be more productive.  Russian Link (pictured rolling after her work on Sunday) ought to run OK (fingers crossed) in selling company at Stratford.  We have a new jockey.  William Kennedy isn't available as he's going to Sedgefield to ride for Dr. Nooland.  Tim Donworth, who has been schooling her, couldn't ride at 10 stone 5lb (well, he could, but he couldn't ride at 9 stone 12lb, which is what it would be for him with his 7lb claim).  So we have Wayne Hutchinson.  I'm pleased about that.  A couple of years ago Emma did a jockey-diary as a publicity thing for the British Racing School, using a jockey who had graduated from the BRS.  Wayne was the jumps jockey (Luke Morris did the Flat one) and he was incredibly helpful and obliging.  She said then that it would be nice to give him a ride at some stage (and doubly so, of course, because he is a top-class jockey) so it's good that we're finally doing that - and doubly so because it is on a horse who carries Emma's colours.