Another disappointing run for Maxwell Hawke on Friday. It’s been a while now since he put in a decent run, but I think he’ll return to form one day. Next time up he’ll be wearing a tongue tie. Cyan Eyed ran today, finishing in mid division in what may prove to be a smart maiden. She doesn’t look like a champion but she has some level of ability.
Swindon won nicely enough on Saturday, and given that it was the first game for two new hires and that some of the players were still suffering from the exhausting game midweek I thought it was a strong show.
We had another night camping in the woods on Sunday night, this time with a load of friends. Every time I do it I enjoy it more – I don’t really get out enough and there is something special about sleeping under the stars. The children are all back at school this week, and for the first time we have a completely child free house during the day. It’s an exciting moment, although it would be more exciting if we didn’t have so much building work going on.
There’s a couple of horses I’ll be following tomorrow. Comedy Hall goes in the first at Catterick – he was bred at Stonerside and they have an excellent record of picking the right horses to thrive in the UK. Sheikh Mohammed bought Stonerside last year. Soft ground is an imponderable, but I suspect he’ll thrive on it and Mark Johnstone is no fool.
At Chepstow Hector Spectre tries to follow up after his all-weather win last time. We (the Comic Strip Heroes) formerly owned him, and he was claimed off us in a Windsor claimer a while back. I never saw him as a superstar, but I thought he’d progress and win races in time – most of all I wanted to give him a chance on soft ground as we thought he would be at his best on it, but we never had the opportunity. He’s had one chance on the soft with his new connections, but over a trip that was too long – a mile on soft tomorrow looks the perfect opportunity. He’s ridden by James P Sullivan, which happens to be the name of the blue hairy one in Monsters Inc. He’s up against a favourite who comes out quickly on testing ground with a different jockey on board (the previous one had a 5lb claim and was value for it). The gap between runs is a slight worry but Hector Spectre looks a very decent bet.
I’m updating my list of horses today, which is well overdue.