Feeling The Heat

Blacklister was squeezed out of the Nottingham race on Saturday, but at least we have plenty of other UK races coming up during the week to try and reap our revenge. We have Masterson, Ettie Hart, Lillyput and Sayesse to come in the next few days, meaning Mirzam will be the only one not to have run from Mick Channon's lot. There's a great UK season ahead of us...

The kids took part in the Colza Cup, with Louis winning, and Sophie coming second! 'Bugatti' performed beautifully, despite the flapping tents and crowds of people, as well as the realization that he was in a competitive event - something that always gets him in high-tension mode.

As for the JRA results, before the race earlier today, Perfumer was never really in with a chance as far as I was concerned. Yes, it was a low-level race, but there were one or two good ponies in the line-up that would always place a horse like Perfumer in the 'also ran' category - or so I thought. Not being funny, that was the best run I've ever seen from Perfumer - it deserved better than the sixth place it got, as it was a good solid performance from start to finish (it was a more impressive run than the win, as it happens). No-one is more surprised than me, but it makes a change to be pleasantly surprised.

Belle Plage finished off the day. I feel sorry for Ogata-san, having got a horse well-prepared on so many occasions only to have it struggling to get a berth in a suitable race. As such, this shorter than desired 1400m dirt run was a sign of desperation just to get the horse out, and even that was oversubscribed, as I see another Carrot horse failed to get an entry! Anyway, 11th is a terrible result for such a good horse - we have to put it behind us and move on, treating the race as nothing more than exercise.