Signs Of Progress

Masterson was fourth at Fontwell yesterday, tiring at the end after taking up the pace for most of the race. For a flat runner, it was a sterling effort, and who knows, he might have a go over the jumps again after such a bold performance.

Trovao is supposed to be aiming for a big Nagoya race as soon as winter fades, although keeping the horse at Northern Farm in the meantime is not a good idea as far as I'm concerned. In fact, I think it's a bloody awful idea - I just hope I'm proved wrong. Meanwhile, Lotus Blossom has passed its race proficiency test, so hopefully it can start clawing back a few pennies after it makes its very, very long overdue debut. Phosphorus also passed, so can get back into action, albeit an annoying five months behind schedule!

The first time out, Vertice ran a stinker. We were told to forget it, as it wasn't an authentic display of the horse's potential, so had a right to expect something decent this time around, despite the extreme outside gate. Well, we didn't win, but third (three-and-a-half lengths down) wasn't bad at all, and it certainly gives us more to build on than the awful debut run.

PS. The post-race report notes that Vertice will disappear to NF for a while in the New Year. Why? Today is the first month since time began that the horse has actually broken even on the finance side - in fact, it's the first cent it has earned. Now off to Northern Farm at needlessly huge expense, and you'll probably have a donkey on its return. That mention of 'progress' in the post title didn't last long did it? Pathetic! At least Lotus Blossom might run in early January, and that's good, for this one also has an expense sheet running in rivers of red ink.

PPS. Just checking, and Larressingle is now at NF again following its Sonoda campaign; Rush Attack has been there forever; War Chronicle is at the stable so far (we'll wait for a new report to see what happens next, although there are hints of a break being such a fragile horse, bringing into question its worth as a racehorse, full-stop); Trovao is at NF; Vertice is off to NF soon, while Million Ways is at Midway Farm. This means that of all my Carrot horses, apart from Million Ways, only Lotus Blossom is totally free of Northern Farm's grip, which is madness. And they wonder why they are struggling to sell NAR horses. Maybe it's because constant Northern Farm breaks (after we've been paying for nothing other than cut-and-paste reports for a year, ready to get long-overdue debuts and what should be a promise of regular racing thereafter, something absolutely necessary in NAR) pisses people off! I think you can see why my shares in Japanese horses have fallen off to such a large extent compared to a few years back. It is nothing like racing - Carrot Club should change its name to the Northern Farm Supporters Club.