Lots Happening

Single Cask came a gallant third today, missing out on second place by a nose. Harada-kun, the jockey, is saying how sorry he is for not doing better, but given the odds on the winner, and the long odds on Single Cask, I think he did an excellent job!

Belle Plage's race for the 27th is heavily oversubscribed, with 37 horses booked for 15 berths in the gate. We'll have to wait and see what happens on that one. Also, River Spirit won't be running on Tuesday now, but will have another race lined up soon. At least we have Pop Label to cheer on at Funabashi tomorrow - I'm really looking forward to it...

Louis and 'Bugatti' moved up a couple of classes today and came third in the junior A2 Dressage event. The odd thing is, there are so many handicaps and allowances in this category. I think the fact that he would have won the adult class by a country mile with his pure score (57.499 before handicaps) tells you enough - it was another superb performance. We'd tried the junior class once before, but will stick to adult classes from now on. The plan is to skip A3 and go straight to L1 next time, which is another big challenge.

In the meantime, Sophie (left) came fourth with 'Bugatti' in the Test category - despite her poor score, today was a good foundation to build on, as she's been more than a little dubious with the big fella recently. I guess she's reached that age where everything is up in the air, and confusion reigns. Given the current situation, she did well enough, and if she can get back to the way she was with 'Jaguar' towards the end, she'll make a tough competitor teaming up with 'Bugatti' in the future.