CAUB

Masterson came a handy fourth at Chepstow on Tuesday, and we have at least two more UK runners to come during the week. However, A Touch Of Sparkle failed to get to Perth due to the bad weather ruining the boat trip from Ireland.

As for the Japan stuff, if I was the idiot Daigo, this is where I would say "CAUB," which in this case stands for complete and utter bollocks. Perfumer has disappeared to Northern Farm (a kiss of death after such a good run), War Chronicle and Massabielle are on treadmill duty at NF (I thought they were supposed to be racehorses?), and Belle Plage has also been shipped off there with Chocolat Sucre. We may as well write them all off as far as I'm concerned...

No progress with Rush Attack (with comments that equate to nothing less than a cover-up to hide the amount of time it will take to get the horse back into racing trim), and now Million Ways is also on light duties. Perhaps Larressingle will get to run on the 15th, assuming the hoped-for race hasn't been oversubscribed by the usual amount, and Infinity Love is at least at a racing stable of sorts. Whether we will see anything resembling the horse she should be remains to be seen, but it would be hard for her to be any worse than she was in Yahagi's hands. I think we can expect another place at best from Pop Label next week, for the distance is once again too short for a horse that couldn't get out the gate in a hurry if its life was at stake, and Shine Tiara may or may not be right for Kawasaki at the end of the month (Phosphorus is down to run at the same meeting now, by the way). All that I can say is boy, do we need something from Trovao to pull us out of this low ebb in Japanese racing!

PS. Lotus Blossom has passed a gate test and will take the full race proficiency test on the 17th, so fingers crossed there, and Infinity Love is starting to look more like a racer than a donkey. Larressingle has had the Tokyo 4R approved for the 15th, with Monsieur Lemaire once more in the saddle - it's far from an easy race, with some strong rivals as well as a touch of rivalry, but it should be an interesting mile, that's for sure.