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1st November 2018
Plus 7, damp and foggy when driving in.
Brian Holdsworth summed up our wasted visit to Nottingham yesterday when sending me this email
'Kim..I hope you didn’t have too frustrating a time today. Poor old Sunblazer must have set off expecting his feet to be rattling over the good to firm ground….with watering to maintain!
I live about 4 miles from the course in an elevated position looking over Nottingham and we had a 30 minute heavy rain band on Saturday afternoon which appeared to be widespread and on Monday about 6 hours of drizzle and light rain.
Nottingham Racecourse has a very high water table alongside the Trent and the meeting is usually run on a bog. So, I was surprised to read the ground had tightened to that as forecast with very cold weather and no real drying effect from the weather. Even more surprised when the Racing Post feed said the Clerk of the Course thought it would ride dead before the first race, which implies to me on the slower side of good.
Lo and behold after 6 hours of sun and no rain the going was then declared as eased to Good after the first race. All very odd to me – it’s a meeting where they usually have battalions of very expensive young horses seeking a last chance to get their feet on racing grass, yet no declarations from the likes of Godolphin, Gosden and Stoute, no doubt fearful of firm in the forecast, when in reality it was probably perfectly safe and erring to soft.'
Wasted trip.…Sunblazer finished 7th.
Thursday is historically our easy day.
So with that in mind we hosted 30 members of the Racegoers Club here second lot.
I then went over to Lambourn with Red River and Vinndication.
From there straight to Stratford where we have one runner. Net Work Rouge runs in the last and for my thoughts on his chance please click here.
A very good supper at The Frogmill last night. Night two of Mrs B’s birthday celebrations.. talking birthdays happy birthday to one of my owners.. Ian Renton is 60 today and I am sure he will be dancing the night away down under.. He is part of the Jockey Club Melbourne Cup team..
John Cootes is having a busy week.. Street names this time.
Ass House Lane. Middlesex
Busty View. County Durham
Crotch Crescent. Oxfordshire
Dumb Women’s Lane. East Sussex
Fanny Hands Lane. Lincolnshire
Gropers Lane. Hampshire
Happy Land (Lane). Worcestershire
Leg of Mutton Road. Somerset
Minge Lane. Worcestershire
No Name Street. Kent
Nowhere Lane. Norfolk.
Nutter Street. W. York’s
Ogle Close. Merseyside
Piddle Lane. Dorset
Rotten Row. London
Slag Lane. Wiltshire
Turkey Cock Lane. Essex
Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate. N. Yorkshire
Zig-Zag Lane. Norfolk
Click here to read Sam Morshead's Obituary as written in The Times yesterday.