Derisory

War Chronicle is supposed to be looking much better, and also supposed to be returning to Miho TC soon - assuming there's space for her, of course, otherwise it's back to the merry-go-round of being passed from pillar to post and never going anywhere near a race track. The poor thing will have absolutely no idea who her groom is, and most of her time at the Training Centre will be spent on reaquaintance rather than preparing for a race. You can see it coming - a bad result followed by lengthy R&R "because she's tired."

While 'Bugatti' is older, he still does harder training sessions than virtually any of the JRA horses, which is exactly why he doesn't get tired, even after a full weekend of competition - anything less and he'd be going out of his mind with stress, even on his lower octane diet. This constant shuffling off to holiday spots all just an excuse to make up for an overwhelming lack of space at Miho and Ritto, a problem aggravated by a distinct lack of races in relation to the number of horses on the books, and to keep the money rolling into Northern Farm.

Courtesy Realta HRC

Meanwhile, Perfumer's trainer is apparently aiming for a shorter race, although it will probably remain in Treadmillsville until its old and grey if the last stint at NF is anything to go by. Incidentally, the staff at Northern Farm have now decided that Rush Attack's hoof problem is nothing more than a skin complaint, so it should be back in 'training' soon - I've put training in inverted commas, because a treadmill and the odd canter is nothing like race training, it's simply taking the edge of a young horse's built-up tension and keeping its muscles loose. Infinity Love is on holiday as usual.

Although the Pop Label run was scrubbed, at least Danielle's Journey is still up for the 4:50 at Cheltenham on the 17th at the moment, which is definitely something to look forward to, as the Cheltenham Festival is the highlight of the National Hunt season. Her chance to run in this most prestigious event is a rare and important dream amongst the all-too-common squandered money spent on JRA horses...

PS. As you can see from the picture, Danielle's Journey is now loaded in the horsebox and on her way to Cheltenham, with Brian Hughes booked to ride. Good luck, girl!