Runners

I was getting quite good at writing chapters of this blog with a fair degree of frequency, but I've now slipped and it is 11 days since the last one.  Still, better late than never.  Good feedback again, Neil, from the last chapter, thank you.  Yes, reserves/emergencies.  I can never understand why they aren't used here.  They seem to work well elsewhere.  Just regard everything as a runner, and take out the scratchings on raceday, and review your idea of the pattern of the race once the scratchings are out.  One doesn't have to place one's bet the day before the race: a few hours before the event is early enough.

It seems straightforward, and it works well elsewhere.  Australia is so often held up to us as the beau ideal, but those who hold it up for our inspection tend to draw a veil over the fact that emergencies are a staple of the diet.  From a participant's point of view I'd rather not have them - I like to get organised so it suits my weird mind to know two, or even three, days in advance of the race whether we are getting a run of not - but I don't see how anyone who both likes the idea of early declarations (which most people do, myself included) and also gets upset about non-runners (which I don't, but most others seem to) could not be in favour of them.

To return closer to home, I didn't really do the right thing in planning to run Kryptos (pictured pre-race) on my birthday.  I was always going to be a nervous wreck on the day when he finally resumed, but I became doubly so because of the fact that we'd set ourselves a stipulation that we would not run if the ground was firmer than good, and it turned out to be a borderline call as to whether it actually had eased enough to be correctly called 'good'.  The upshot was that until shortly after 4.10 pm I did anything but enjoy my birthday.  Happily, however, all was well that ended well: he ran very well before inevitably getting tired at the end, suggesting that he retains all of his old ability, and then afterwards his leg looked no different after the race than it had before it.  So I ultimately I did have a happy birthday (even if, for the majority of it, it was a miserable one!).

That was a grey day ending a Guineas meeting run largely under grey skies, but we've had some lovely weather since then, which has been great (particularly as, obviously, I wasn't wanting to run Kryptos anyway - he definitely wouldn't have been running in these once-more-dry conditions).  I think that there will be outbreaks of rain again this week - there have to be, don't there, it being Ascot Heath? - so I only hope that we won't get wet at Chelmsford this evening.  The Polytrack, obviously, will be more or less unaffected by whether or not it rains, but a soaking would make it much less pleasant for the few of us there.  The three from this stable who will be there will be Abbie, myself and Hidden Pearl, and we'll go there hoping for a good run.