I was on a bit of a wild goose chase this morning as we woke up to find Clyde the fallabella pony missing from his field. He's known to perform Houdini-style escapes from his pasture but usually it's just to say hello to some of the horses in the yard. This morning, though, he was nowhere to be seen.
Using all the family's detective skills, we manged to trace some fresh poo and hoof marks to a gap in the fence where he had knocked a rail down and made his run but after looking all over the village, he was still a on the loose.
About an hour later, we got a call saying he was chasing a couple of yearlings around a field down the road. Luckily no-one was harmed except Clyde (who is a colt) may be getting a visit to the vets and be coming back two stone lighter!
The week began with plenty of runners. Red Hearts was our first two year old to go to the races this season and she showed plenty of speed until getting tired towards the end. It's been hard to get the newcomers fully fit with the dry weather we've had (as all Newmarket trainers are complaining about) but she's in again this week at Brighton and I think we'll see a much better performance.
Night Orbit ran a blinder on Tuesday to finish second in the country's longest flat handicap - The Pontefract Marathon. He is a proven stayer and the fast pace helped him show it but he was unlucky to run into a freak result - the winner was 100/1! He loves these kinds of races and it's just a shame there are not more of these extreme stamina tests.
Premier League was favourite at Bath on the same day with Richard Hughes on board but he was slightly disappointing. Hughesie said the horse didn't like the track's undulations and the fast ground wasn't a help either so he can be judged than better than this result.
We had high hopes for Generous Genella on Wednesday but she could never get competitive off a break-neck pace. I think she needs a tongue strap to help her breathing and hopefully that's the solution because she gallops so well at home.
We've got a vast range of abilities on show in the next seven days, including the already mentioned Red Hearts. At the bottom end of the scale, Emmeline Pankhurst runs for the first time this year at Lingfield. We thought she would be a decent two year old last year but she never showed it on the track yet she has been working well at home and if she can get to the front from her wide draw, I think she'll go well.
On the other side of things, Emma's Gift runs in a valuable conditions race at Ascot on Wednesday. She's one of the highest rated in the race and Adam Beschizza will be claiming five pounds off her back so I'm hoping for a good showing if the ground stays firm.
As too I expect from King Columbo on Sunday at Salisbury. He won a charity race earlier this year so if that has done his confidence some good and we get a bit of rain, there will be a fair bit in his favour.
Three to Follow Update
Night Orbit landed five points for his second on Tuesday but no-one had included the old boy in their lists so the standings are as before.
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