15th September 2020

This morning many horses swung through on the woodchip. Those we are thinking of running this month went a little faster than those waiting for rain. With the weather many of the horses are well forward and it is a balancing act of keeping their backs down and not over cooking anything until we see some rain on the horizon. The entries for the first day of Warwick’s opening meeting look to be plentiful. It would appear that many trainers have their horses ready to rumble. I find history does have a habit of repeating itself and no doubt when it rains it won’t stop. 

Speaking of history, the handicapper hasn’t missed us over the last fortnight. Christopher Robin has been beaten twice off 100 yet went up 4. Flashing Glance 5, Yes No Maybe So 8, Neville’s Cross 9 and Floating Rock 1. On this occasion I don’t think he’s been too hard. Ever trainer including me complains about the handicapper. I will never recover from his atrocious work with Polydora after he won at Newcastle in December 2018. 

The water scenario at Hexham this afternoon was rather Dads Army, even p2p tracks seem to be able to supply sufficient water to cool horses down on hot days. I seldom find Matt Chapman amusing but his commentary on the whole episode was very certainly that.