All roads lead to somewhere near Ascot

All roads lead to the Ascot area.  All roads, of course, lead to Ascot this week, but not for me.  The road for me leads almost there, but we shall stop at this end of Windsor Forest rather than the far end, because my excitement for the week is taking Hope Is High to Windsor tonight to see if she can back up and defy a 6lb penalty for her win on Wednesday.  I don't like backing up recent winners simply because you feel bad if you do so and they don't win - but common sense says we have to give it a go as she is set to go off somewhere around 6/4 favourite in a six-runner race tonight.  She seems to have taken the race really well, so we'd be crazy not to try our luck.

I hope that the one setback so far will prove to have been the only one.  The race is for apprentices who have ridden no more than 25 winners, and we'd have had the most experienced apprentice in the field as Jane Elliott was going to ride.  However, she had a fall at Lingfield on Saturday night and has been stood down for seven days by the doctor.  Darragh Keenan will take her place.  He's less experienced, but he is a very good rider and will claim 5lb (whereas Jane would not have had a claim).  I am sure that he will give her plenty of help.  He rode a winner for his boss John Butler last week, and John doesn't suffer fools so that's good enough for me.

Other than that?  Well, So Much Water runs later in the card.  She has bounced back from the cut leg which ruled her out of Goodwood ten days ago, so she's ready to run.  And to run well, I hope.  Winning, of course, might be another matter altogether as it looks a fairly strong maiden race.  Still, we'll give it our best shot, as always.  Later in the week Indira is entered at Chelmsford on Thursday but won't run; and Kilim is entered at Bath on Friday and probably will run.  And then this morning I have entered Kryptos for Newmarket on Saturday.  So it should be a busy week, and might be a fun one, even without Ascot.  And, whatever the results, the baking hot weather helps.  We spend all too many weeks cold and/or wet.