Plans change. I wrote a couple of days ago that we had three horses entered for this week so, fingers crossed, would have three runners. I'm afraid that that has gone down to two. You might have noticed that Silken Thoughts had two entries for Wednesday, but she'll be taking up neither of them. I thought that she was a bit subdued after exercise on Saturday and, while she seemed in good form yesterday (as this photograph, taken yesterday afternoon, demonstrates, showing her rearing in the background behind the frolicking Batgirl), I couldn't get her Saturday subduedness from my mind. A blood test was therefore taken this morning - and, while it wasn't massively unsatisfactory, a couple of the figures were wrong enough to make it a no-brainer (to my way of thinking, anyway) not to run her. Had she run, she couldn't have run to form - and the stress would have ensured that it would have taken her longer than it should for her blood profile fo return to normal. All trainers have enough incidences of horses running way below their best (just look at Blue Bunting and Fame And Glory at the weekend) even when we think we're doing everything right, so we don't need to invite disappointment by running horses whose malaise is evident even before the race. As things are, though, she can have a few easy days and, fingers crossed, should be right to run next week. And just in case you think, by the way, that I've become one of those trainers who let themselves be ruled by veterinary technology (ie one of the successful ones!), I hasten to add that this was only, I think, the third blood test which I have had taken this year. (And today I had the pleasure of opening the stable's veterinary account and seeing that the total for the month was zero). Usually I am no more ready to resort to science to find out whether a horse is feeling well than I am to resort to science to know if I am feeling well: if you're ill, you know about it, and I'd like to think that if a horse isn't right, you'd pick up on it if you had any feeling for the horses under your care. If a horse is clearly healthy, that should be obvious, and if he's unhealthy that should be equally plain too. But there are instances like this when the warning signs are so slight that one wants to get a second opinion - and of the three second opinions I have sought this year via blood tests, two of them have shown an unsatisfactory blood profile, while one of them has been normal. Anyway, that's the story why two entries have been made for a horse who isn't running this week.
That, then, leaves two, the first of whom should run at Folkestone tomorrow. Rhythm Stick has many of the characteristics of a horse who runs best with some cut in the ground (eg a round action, big feet, etc.). (Mind you, so does Ex Con, seen here lolloping with his lumbering gait up Railway Land last winter, and he can't go a yard unless the surface is sound - but, then again, every rule has an exception to prove it). Folkestone had 7mm of rain overnight on Saturday to mean that the ground was listed as 'good, good to soft in places' on Sunday morning so it was an easy decision to declare - and a further 10mm since then, taking the ground to 'good to soft', makes it easy to head off down there in the morning. L
et's hope for the best. Rhythm Stick (pictured before his most recent victory) has won his last three races, but the most recent of them was in January, and it obviously would be asking an awful lot for him to win over 12 furlongs first-up after a 9-month absence. (He hasn't, by the way, had anything wrong with him in the interim - he was just still a very immature young horse who'd come a long way in a short time so, having won three races, he'd clearly earned the right to a good holiday to mature a bit more at his own pace, and then a gradual return to training after that, hopefully to see him ready to resume with the autumn rains, which happily seems to be happening). Anyway, he does appear to have made the hoped-for physical progress, so we'll head off to Folkestone tomorrow, hoping for the best but not expecting too much.
Plans change. I wrote a couple of days ago that we had three horses entered for this week so, fingers crossed, would have three runners. I'm afraid that that has gone down to two. You might have noticed that Silken Thoughts had two entries for Wednesday, but she'll be taking up neither of them. I thought that she was a bit subdued after exercise on Saturday and, while she seemed in good form yesterday (as this photograph, taken yesterday afternoon, demonstrates, showing her rearing in the background behind the frolicking Batgirl), I couldn't get her Saturday subduedness from my mind. A blood test was therefore taken this morning - and, while it wasn't massively unsatisfactory, a couple of the figures were wrong enough to make it a no-brainer (to my way of thinking, anyway) not to run her. Had she run, she couldn't have run to form - and the stress would have ensured that it would have taken her longer than it should for her blood profile fo return to normal. All trainers have enough incidences of horses running way below their best (just look at Blue Bunting and Fame And Glory at the weekend) even when we think we're doing everything right, so we don't need to invite disappointment by running horses whose malaise is evident even before the race. As things are, though, she can have a few easy days and, fingers crossed, should be right to run next week. And just in case you think, by the way, that I've become one of those trainers who let themselves be ruled by veterinary technology (ie one of the successful ones!), I hasten to add that this was only, I think, the third blood test which I have had taken this year. (And today I had the pleasure of opening the stable's veterinary account and seeing that the total for the month was zero). Usually I am no more ready to resort to science to find out whether a horse is feeling well than I am to resort to science to know if I am feeling well: if you're ill, you know about it, and I'd like to think that if a horse isn't right, you'd pick up on it if you had any feeling for the horses under your care. If a horse is clearly healthy, that should be obvious, and if he's unhealthy that should be equally plain too. But there are instances like this when the warning signs are so slight that one wants to get a second opinion - and of the three second opinions I have sought this year via blood tests, two of them have shown an unsatisfactory blood profile, while one of them has been normal. Anyway, that's the story why two entries have been made for a horse who isn't running this week.
That, then, leaves two, the first of whom should run at Folkestone tomorrow. Rhythm Stick has many of the characteristics of a horse who runs best with some cut in the ground (eg a round action, big feet, etc.). (Mind you, so does Ex Con, seen here lolloping with his lumbering gait up Railway Land last winter, and he can't go a yard unless the surface is sound - but, then again, every rule has an exception to prove it). Folkestone had 7mm of rain overnight on Saturday to mean that the ground was listed as 'good, good to soft in places' on Sunday morning so it was an easy decision to declare - and a further 10mm since then, taking the ground to 'good to soft', makes it easy to head off down there in the morning. L
et's hope for the best. Rhythm Stick (pictured before his most recent victory) has won his last three races, but the most recent of them was in January, and it obviously would be asking an awful lot for him to win over 12 furlongs first-up after a 9-month absence. (He hasn't, by the way, had anything wrong with him in the interim - he was just still a very immature young horse who'd come a long way in a short time so, having won three races, he'd clearly earned the right to a good holiday to mature a bit more at his own pace, and then a gradual return to training after that, hopefully to see him ready to resume with the autumn rains, which happily seems to be happening). Anyway, he does appear to have made the hoped-for physical progress, so we'll head off to Folkestone tomorrow, hoping for the best but not expecting too much.
1 comment:
Wow, another great run from Rhythm Stick this time under the excellent Jim Crowley.
Well done to the whole team!
I do hope the handicapper is kind but something tells me that's unlikely...
Your going to have to squeeze some more improvement from him to maintain his incredible record John.
Nathan.
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