Caution

We haven't quite reached the stage where we can say that the interruption caused by the detection of equine 'flu in one stable (and then another) is behind us, but we're getting there.  It's the usual story: you end up looking back and wondering what all the fuss was about.  At least with this one (in contrast to the one in 2003 when many more horses, so we're told, were affected) we shall remember that it took place.  I was training in Newmarket in 2003 and this week we have been reminded that over 1,000 horses in the town caught the bug that year, but that's news to me.  I either never knew or had forgotten.  But we won't forget this one (not least because equine 'flu seems to have been renamed and is now generally referred to as EI, and that's easy to remember).

We didn't have any horses entered on the six days when there was no racing.  We had one entered yesterday (Sacred Sprite at Kempton) but I ended up not permitted to declare her as the vaccination rules had been changed during the night and she no longer adhered to the vaccination conditions.  That was mildly irritating, but in the great scheme of things it's no big deal.  She can run in an identical race two weeks later - which won't be the case for many of the higher-profile horses in other stables who have been ruled out of big races in which they had a good chance.  So we can't complain too much.

What's also annoying, as Phil McEntee sensibly pointed out when interviewed on ATR at Southwell this afternoon, is hearing wise guys harping on that we were advised to give booster vaccinations to the horses at the end of January.  That's all well and good, but the horses whose racing programmes have been affected by this are ones who are racing at present - and no trainer (unless he wanted to increase the chance of either the horse putting in a below-par run or not running) would vaccinate a horse at a time when he had a race coming up unless he had to.  And at that stage we didn't have to.

All bar one of the horses here could have run yesterday, Sacred Sprite being the only one who couldn't; and the reason why she couldn't was because I was waiting to have her vaccinated the day after her race when she was having a few easy days so that she wouldn't have to have a vaccination in the lead-up period before a race.  As it is, she had a vaccination yesterday and should run 15 days later.  That's not ideal, but it's permissible.  The rules merely prevent you from running for a week after a vaccination, but common sense dictates that you'd prefer to have a longer gap (ideally a significantly longer gap) if you can.

Solitary Sister ran shortly before Christmas and was vaccinated after that (and then had a week off over the Christmas period so that worked out well).  So she's fine to run - and will run tomorrow at Chelmsford.  It's impossible to give her a chance on form, but she's going well and looks terrific, so we can allow ourselves to travel with a modicum of hope.  If you just saw her and then watched her work, you'd say that she would have an outstanding chance in 0-50 company, but the form-book is often the best guide, and it definitely advises caution.  We'll see.