The horses continue to run poorly, with none of my stables really firing at the moment. My two runners at Haydock today (Thursday) are horses I liked early in the season but both are outsiders.
Cheddar George has been disappointing and does not look as if he’s going to live up to our hopes for him. I suspect he’ll improve on his current form, but Brian isn’t talking up his chances and I doubt he’s up to winning this.
Wolf Slayer is in the Racing Post tissue at 50-1 in a 5 horse race – she was 50-1 last time and came last of 15 so I guess it’s a fair reflection. Her problem isn’t lack of talent it’s lack of experience – she ran all over the track last time from the worst draw she could have and finished last as a result of that. She has the right draw today and she should run a better race – she may still need it but I don’t think she’s a no hoper.
Friday is potentially a big day for me as Bouguereaufinally gets back to the racecourse after a gap of nearly two years. He had an accident at Goodwood in 2008, breaking a bone in his foot and sustaining a lot of ligament damage in the process. The foot still isn’t pretty, but he’s been sound on it for a while now and it should be ok to run on. I doubt he’ll feature in the finish but in truth I don’t really know what to expect.
I won’t be able to watch Bougie as I’m going to the tennis. It’s been fun this year as I’ve had an extra interest – I’ve sponsored Oli Golding, one of our juniors, for a couple of years now and he’s suddenly showing some decent form. He beat the fourteenth seed in the second round, and yesterday he beat the top seed in a tight three setter. He’s in the last eight with a real chance of going all the way – exciting stuff.