Last week's picture of an upside down caravan got plenty of laughs and I could have put it up again this week as the wind around here at the minute is strong enough to blow a house down never mind a caravan!
It may be windy but there's still no sign of rain which makes it at least three months since we had a good showering of the wet stuff. A report on the TV the other day said the Sahara desert has seen more precipitation than East Anglia and looking out on the barren, dusty landscape of the heath in the mornings, I can believe it!
I was expecting to be really busy with runners last week but for some reason or another, some didn't run but we still had good performances from the rest.
Khajaaly was an unlucky third at Wolverhampton on Monday and he might have won with a clearer passage. The key to him is keeping him fresh which means we can only run once a month but he's consistent anyway. That same day, Bavarica ran in the amateur race with my daughter Shelley aboard and she just needed the run to get the hang of riding the filly as she may be in the veteran stage of her career but she takes some knowing.
We didn't go racing then until Saturday when we had three horses running.
At York, Sancho Panza ran another fine race to finish third in what was his toughest assignment to date. The 1m4f trip was probably a bit short for him on the firm ground and he'll be better over further or with some give in the going.
Emmeline Pankhurst and Spirit of Sharjah were at Goodwood and they both put up good performances. Spirit was running over six furlongs, which is shorter than ideal, but he showed he's well handicapped to finish a close-up sixth. He will win a big race over seven furlongs soon.
On the other hand, Emmeline found the trip a bit too far and I'm confident that she has the ability to win a race somewhere.
Riding both those horses was Jimmy Quinn who only the day before had been revealed as one of the jockeys under investigation by the BHA for race fixing. It was a shock to me to hear the news as Jimmy has ridden me plenty of winners (indeed my first ever) and has never struck me as guilty. I can only say that a suspect is innocent until proven guilty and I will be more than happy to use his services in the future. Even more surprising was the news that Greg Fairley was suspected of the same offence. Greg regularly rides Night Orbit for me and he is so quiet and unassuming that I would never have thought him capable of such a crime.
We've got Sunny Spells back in the yard now as he is due to run over hurdles on Tuesday at Huntingdon. He is trained on the flat by Stuart Williams but comes to me for jumps runs as Stuart doesn't have a National Hunt licence. The horse hasn't run in a while and will probably need the race.
Later on in the week, Bavarica runs again at Newmarket. My son Ross has won on her four times and he's back aboard. He says she feels in great form at home and the handicapper has given her a chance so I hope she can go close.
Sail Home runs on Friday too at Pontefract. She won last time out but went up six pounds in the handicap so she needs to improve a bit but she is in top form and it wouldn't surprise me should she win again.
Three To Follow Update
Khajaaly scored his first few points of the competition with a third place whilst Sancho Panza's three points see Adam Beschizza back on the top spot alone.
1st - Adam Beschizza (28 points)
2nd - Rita Aspland (25 points)
3rd - Tetanya, Zac Fitzgerald, Poppy Feilden, Julia Feilden, Peter Darlington (23 points)
4 others on 18 points, 10 on 15 points, 2 on 13, 3 on 8, 4 on 5 and one on 3 points.
No comments:
Post a Comment