Soft ground plans

I thought we’d got rid of all the snow, but then I looked under the hedges and realised there’s still a little bit hanging around.

I think everybody’s tired of it now and I’m hoping this next lot will stay away.

We’re desperately trying to find ground that we can run better ground horses on.

We’ve had a number of horses entered up, including Art Of Payroll and Voix D'Eau, who we haven’t been able to run.

Hopefully it will change sooner rather than later, and it will change very quickly too.

We just have to be ready to go as and when things finally do improve.

We have managed to work around it somewhat though with American Gigolo and Golden Birthday both running, and winning, on the Flat.

American Gigolo may still go over hurdles at Aintree if we get better ground but there are plenty of options for him.

We’ll see what the handicapper makes of his win at Newcastle and take it from there.

He certainly made the long journey up there worthwhile and is definitely going the right way.

We’ve got the Chester Cup on 11th May in mind for him now and it’s just what we do between now and then.

I have no problems with mix-and-matching hurdles and running him on the level so he could go jumping at Aintree or Ayr before going to Chester.

Golden Birthday is another one who could go to the Chester Cup – he’s pretty evenly-matched with American Gigolo.

Cheltenham review

Whataknight ran well in ground that was too soft, so he could go to Aintree or back to Cheltenham for the April meeting.

Hopefully, judging by the way he ran, it’s not going to be long before he gets his head back in front again, he just wants much better ground.

Unowhatimeanharry didn’t run his race. It was a falsely run race really.

They didn’t go a great gallop and then it turned into a bit of a sprint which didn’t suit him.

Noel Fehily felt he was probably in the wrong place in hindsight as well.

There are no immediate plans other than he could go to Punchestown, but we’ll wait and see.

Melrose Boy picked up a bad injury in the Martin Pipe and is now very unlikely to see a racecourse ever again, sadly.

American hung in there in the Gold Cup for a long way.

He was turning in sixth at the top of the hill but just couldn’t quite see out the race

The owners had what was probably the best day they’ve ever had by the sounds of it, and they’d do it all again even knowing the result.

As for his future plans, you need a good bit of time to get over these sorts of runs and we’ll just see where we are in another few weeks.

On banning the whip

It’s a very tricky one to call and is definitely a grey area.

It’s the only rule that jockeys can break and still keep the race.

Maybe it has got to be tried to see what sort of impact it has, but I certainly don’t think any of the jockeys that picked up bans at Cheltenham last week could be accused of being overly aggressive or abusive.

Jockeys are riding horses because they love racing and they love riding horses, none of them want to put horses at any harm or risk.

Newbury on Saturday

Wotzizname  runs in the 3m2f handicap chase (2.05pm).

We’ve been holding on and trying to find better ground for him.

He was meant to run in the Grimthorpe at the start of the month but then that was lost to the first Beast from the East.

He beat a good horse on better ground at Doncaster on his last start and, while this may still be on the slow side for him, he needs a run.

He’ll take his chance at Newbury with a view to targeting a valuable novices’ handicap chase up at Ayr in a month’s time.

Lady Of Lamanver  is probably a unique runner in the Grade 2 Mares’ Novices Finale (3.15pm).

She’s a returning winner of this race, which is obviously quite strange with this being a novices’ handicap hurdle.

I say we won it, we won it and then lost it in the stewards’ room, so I didn’t expect us to be coming back for this race.

The ground might not be ideal for her but she’s very much ready to run and takes her chance.

Caribert runs in the hugely valuable Class 2 bumper (5.00pm) that we one last year with Bullionaire.

He made a nice winning debut in the Autumn at Wincanton and was then second to a good horse at Exeter who went and won again.

We thought that rather than having half a season over hurdles, we’d keep him for this race as it’s such a valuable prize.

Hopefully he can follow in Bullionaire’s footsteps.

As for Bullionaire, he’s very well and was obviously just too keen on his reappearance.

If he continues to pull like he did at Ascot then he definitely won’t fulfill his potential.

We’ve been doing lots of work to try and get him to switch off so we can bring him back for a novice hurdle campaign next season.

He’s got as much talent as anything we’ve ever had in the yard, so now it’s about nurturing that and channeling it in the right direction.

Other yard updates

I won the Cheltenham tipping competition, though I did have to share the pot with somebody that I think should have faced a stewards’ enquiry.

On a more serious note, If The Cap Fits has just taken a bit longer than we anticipated to come right and will now be given the rest of the season off.

He’ll enjoy his holidays and then be out again at the beginning of next season.