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Minus 1 and dry when driving in.

It was cold at Kempton, when you were in the shade..

Jockeys did not fancy the sun so they asked for the back straight hurdles and fences to be taken out.. Almost back to all weather racing!

Inca Rose therefore missed out on several jumping opportunities due to the low sun.. He ran well enough and finished 4^th..

There has been a great deal of chat about small fields and ground..

Small fields are a nightmare for all, unless you happen to be lucky enough to win one..

Ground though is a big issue..

Watered ground at this time of year is far from ideal and although most racecourses do a good job, some have rather blotted their copybooks by being futuristic with their ground description to attract runners..

Sadly that has made some owners, and trainers, think twice before running at their racecourses as the cost for owners of taking their horse to the races and not running is scary to say the least....Hard to believe the ground has become measurably softer when there has been no rain..

We are now in the part of the season when we want to run our winter horses who want soft ground..sadly it is just not there at the moment and that is up to the weather gods, not the racecourses…

Kempton yesterday was a prime example of good going.. they have watered consistently since they last had rain, but there was still was no moisture in the ground..

It was good ground as far on my going walking stick guide was concerned, I was easily able to push my stick it in 6 inches but when I pulled it out, the stick was dry..Good winter ground has moisture..

If you dig down into you veggy patch and turn the sod over in winter it is wet, now it would not be..

David Bass was in this morning for one lot..

This weeks movers and shakers in the BHA handicap charts were Rockys Treasure down 4 to 132 while The Edgar Wallace went up 3 to 135..

It was raining hard and a big puddle had formed in front of an Irish pub.

An old man stood beside the puddle holding a stick with a string on the end and jiggled it up and down in the water.

A curious gentleman asked what he was doing.

‘Fishing,’ replied the old man.

‘Poor old fool’ thought the gentleman, so he invited the old man to have a drink in the pub.

Feeling he should start some conversation while they were sipping their whisky, the gentleman asked, ‘And how many have you caught?’

‘You’re the eighth.’