Irish Harp came fourth today, just beaten by a neck for third. The jockey is saying she performed very well, and the result might have been quite different had she not been drawn on the outside gate. Well, I'm not sure what to say at the end of the day, as the field was full of debutantes and no-hopers - only the winning horse looked like it had a strong record behind it, and that was fighting from the inside gate, which didn't really help our cause any. But of the 2011 crop, this was the horse that was my number one choice from the entire Carrot Club catalogue for her year - I had chosen her long before I knew how much she cost and which stable she was going to. She was the one I wanted, period, no matter what the price was. Will another opportunity like today come along, with her in good condition against a relatively weak field? I doubt it. I guess she'll go away for weeks of R&R now, and then hit the summer heat followed by the last-minute rush to get an entry in before the next batch of catalogues are published. Although she tried, I might as well say sayonara to the young girl now...
PS. The trainer is saying the two leading horses were male, so she did OK. But a) you can't use that as an excuse if you've selected a race that you hope to win, knowing there's a mix of male and female horses in it, and b) the horse that pipped her to third was female anyway. It's pretty feeble to say such things and think that's sorted. A decision will be taken on her next race after she has been looked over, but by JRA standards, she's already been at the racing stable for quite a while. It's obviously time to spread the riches around to others to keep the JRA money train in motion. Need I say more.
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