Two down, one to go

We will end up having the three runners this week.  I had worked my way round to deciding that we shouldn't run Das Kapital at Chepstow on Friday, but on Wednesday morning I noted that the GoingStick reading was on the good side of good to firm (or, rather, suggested that the going was) and that the TV weather forecast was pretty adamant that there would be around four hours of fairly solid rain at Chepstow in the early hours of Thursday morning.  I'm more accustomed to using the GoingStick to provide confirmation that the ground won't be suitable - so now that it was suggesting that it would be suitable, I had really to act accordingly.  So I did declare Das Kapital and so Chepstow (notwithstanding that I don't think that much of the predicted rain actually fell) is where we shall be heading.  It does look a suitable race.

Lingfield on Wednesday was a very pleasant outing.  The racecourse was rewarded for putting on a turf programme in lovely weather (not, of course, that they had much say in the weather) by a good crowd, and it was a pleasure to be part of it.  Roy turned out not to stay the two miles, moving into fourth place at the top of the straight but then weakening out of it again, but funnily enough I think that he would stay the two miles at Brighton (which theory, of course, will have to go forever untested) as he is so relaxed there nowadays, but was much more fired up yesterday in his unfamiliar surroundings and raced far too exuberantly to last out the two miles.

Epsom Thursday was also very pleasant.  It was an idyllic evening at a very special racecourse which on a perfect summer's evening (which is what we had) is heaven on earth.  Loving Pearl finished halfway down the field but that was another step forward after her extremely low-key start to the season when she finished last at Newmarket on her resumption.  Logic says that she ought to improve with time and distance, and that is what she seems (albeit gradually) to be doing.  Gradual the progress might be, but it is indeed progress.  And when one is making progress, it's easy to look forward with optimism. She can run over farther again next time and that should help her.  We'll see about that in a small amount of weeks' time.  More immediately we'll see what happens in the 6.10 at Chepstow on Friday night.