Pockets Of Sanity

I've been informed that Raining Dollars may have a tough race on Friday, but that's fine - I don't ask for wins, just visible effort, and that's something you always get oodles of from Jo Hassett and the JLH team, which includes Chelsea as the jockey again this time around.

As for JRA, as usual, Ogata-sensei is the only one talking sense and genuinely caring about not just the horse but the people who pay for its upkeep, too. I really respect this guy, who is thinking of putting both Belle Plage and Larressingle out again in the very near future. He talks straight, and takes his job seriously - he has a hunger that is real, not just oft-repeated but never felt words. He's the Bernie Sanders of JRA - he might not have the media running around after him, but he's someone you can trust. Like Jo, he has my vote.

I don't want to talk about Massabielle at all (its enough to say that anyone that has been on holiday for months and months on the bare minimum of training, if any, is highly unlikely to come back with fire in his belly - something that is blatantly obvious), and stalling tactics are being used with Irish Harp. Here we go again! As for War Chronicle, apparently she is mentally weak right now. I love that! These people can't even tell the difference between a hoof problem and a skin complaint, and would probably have difficulty leading an alcoholic to a bar, yet they have the ability to read a horse's mind. Well, credit where's it due, it is an excuse I've not heard from the legendary JRA Book Of Excuses before, so I tip my hat for finding a new one, as I thought they'd used all 128 pages of them up.

PS. War Chronicle must have seen a psychiatrist, for she is now at Miho TC; Perfumer has suddenly found a race for the 10th April (clocking up a good training time to boot), and Rush Attack is being monitored to judge recovery chances. Of the NAR horses, Chocolat Sucre is starting to eat, which is welcome news (I reckon she'll come good as the weather warms up), and imminent racing campaigns are being planned for Vertice and Lotus Blossom. Things are picking up... 

PPS. Things are picking up... Well, yes, until you read that Massabielle has been shipped off to Northern Farm! That's his career finished then. I've also been talking to my friend who had the same hoof problem with her horse, and she tells me it wasn't one year but two - it just seemed like a year to me. Now remember, this is a Dutch Warmblood, not a Thoroughbred, that needs to be exercised a lot more for its mental well-being. She told me if it's not too bad, it might clear up in six months, but if the initial thoughts were a skin complaint, that means the damage is high up and far tougher to cure quickly - a year would be a stroke of luck, and I can't see any point in keeping a mediocre horse on the books just for the sake of it, especially when its age would point to retirement five minutes later anyway. Her horse was and is a top-level dressage horse with at least another six or seven years of competition left in him, including international events - there's a big difference!