23rd February 2020

The till keeps rattling but we can't quite hit the jackpot yet and we went nearly as close as it is possible to get to a winner without actually winning when Noble Account lost out by a short head and a nose at Wolverhampton on Friday evening. He had been frustrating us with the way he travelled well in his races but found little off the bridle so we decided to force the pace with him and it seemed to be doing the trick until he came to the final furlong and started drifting across the track as he was a bit lonely in front. He probably threw the race away but at least it was a better run and we will refine the tactics next time to try and squeeze the win out of him that we know he is capable of.

Noble Account (top) just misses out at Wolverhampton

Also finishing third last week was War Empress who ran a promising debut at Southwell and the track's deep surface didn't seem to bother her. It didn't look like that for the first part of the race as she was struggling out the back but then she crept her way into contention down the back straight and plugged on in the finish, looking like a step up top two miles could be in order for her.

This week will be a quiet one with just two entries.
There has been an additional meeting put on at Southwell on Monday to make up for some of the jumps fixtures that have been waterlogged and I've just got Limerick Lord declared. He was disappointing at the course last week but couldn't get his usual front-running position so can be forgiven. If he gets a better break this time then he should have a shout as he is well handicapped now.

The other runner will be Winter Snowdrop at Chelmsford on Thursday. She ran really well after a short break to finish third at Kempton last time but the big question here is if she will stay the 1m5f distance. It is worth a try as she was running all the way to the line over shorter last time.