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Plus 10, dry and windy when driving in. A fair bit of rain overnight.

Catch Me Not did not live up to her name in the bumper at Ludlow yesterday. She was very green and weaken to finish 5th.

She will have learnt a great deal and will be an improved horse for her next run..Yesterdays  experience will have done her the world of good.

My afternoon was spent in the car with Jason Maguire.

Jason is always good company and he has been a great help to us with what he now has at his Ivy Lodge Farm. We make full use of his facilities and especially his water treadmill. Incredibly handy that he is based just up the road from here.

Thursday is our easy day. We had a vet in this morning to blood test and scope  this weekends intended runners.

The BHA have got their nickers in a twist again..

Nicky Henderson told the racing world earlier this week that he is not going to be running Altior on Saturday as he is not happy with his horse.

Yes Altior drifted in the markets before the public were informed.. via his sponsored bookmakers blog.. probably not a great way of doing things, but Nicky is contracted by his sponsors to make any yard announcement through their blog..

Now the BHA are sending a vet down to see what is wrong with the horse as Nicky has not officially scratched Altior out of Saturdays race..

I am sorry but yet again the BHA are over reacting..

Nicky has told the press that his horse does not run and the declaration time for Altior’s race is 10 am on Friday… Yes of course he could change his mind, but Nicky is a man of his word.. anyway he has told the world that he is not happy with his horse...

All trainers normally talk to owners and decide where and when they are going to run their horses with the final decisions  made by 10 am the day before.. There are the odd exceptions when the race declaration is 24 hours before.. like the Classic Chase at Warwick on Saturday or the Lanzarote hurdle at Kempton.

In this case Nicky, who is 5 times Champion trainer is saying he is just not happy with his horse.. Surely that is one of the reasons why he is champion trainer..

If I was not happy with one of my runners on Saturday I certainly would not feel obliged to scratch my Saturday runner yesterday, when all I have to do is not declare when the time comes.  

Altior, for example might have a bruised foot (common training problem), Nicky I am sure, as he is such a high profile horse, would announce that fact, but it might not stop him from running as bruised feet can recover.. Surely common sense comes into this…

The BHA either have to stop jockeys and trainers being sponsored by bookmakers or except that Nicky has done nothing wrong.

In the todays Racing Post article..

''In response, five-time champion jumps trainer Henderson said: “I have nothing further to add to what is in the BHA statement this evening.”

I would have sat down, poured a large drink and taken a deep breath..When probably all I wanted to do was tell the BHA to mind their own business!!