Dirty laundry

Another week; some more runners.  Quite a few, in fact.  Already declared are Kryptos (Sandown this evening) and then Hidden Pearl and Dereham (Bath on Wednesday afternoon).  It's worked out well for those two as they were in the same race, which is never satisfactory, but fortunately the race has been divided, so they're in different divisions and won't be running against each other.  Dereham's first choice this week would actually have been at Ripon tomorrow, but that will be very soft and he ran very badly on the only time he has encountered very soft ground.  Later in the week we have Das Kapital entered at Haydock on Thursday and The Rocket Park entered at the same course the next day.  It's likely again to be very soft ground at Haydock, which will suit Das Kapital but won't suit The Rocket Park, who therefore may not be declared.

This is all set against the background of the bizarre story/coverage of the Delia Bushell's departure from her job at the Jockey Club.  It's currently impossible to know which side in this debacle has behaved more badly.  As things stand, the Jockey Club has come out of the coverage very poorly, but then we have heard more about what Delia Bushell has to say on the matter than about what the Jockey Club has to say, so that's probably inevitable.  When I refer to the coverage as being bizarre, what I am referring to is the fact that there is any coverage: one would not have expected this to have become a matter for public consumption.  On that basis, just about the only thing which we can (think we can) deduce is that the fact that the story is being covered in the press speaks very badly about the Jockey Club's collective ability to conduct its business with discretion.