9th February 2020

We're a bit down in the dumps as luck seems to be against us recently. Winners have been hard to find so we were looking forward to heading to Southwell on Sunday with a short-priced favourite in Oud Metha Bridge and another chance with Ben Curtis aboard War Empress. However storm Ciara intervened and the meeting was abandoned, thankfully before we left home. It definitely was the right decision as even driving to the races would have been unsafe but it's a shame it came on a day when we might have had something to cheer.
This followed on from Wolverhampton the previous evening where Ride and Prejudice was withdrawn at the start of her race after rearing over at the stalls. We have spent a lot of time and money improving her behaviour at the start and she passed a stalls test last week with flying colours but obviously the atmosphere of a race day gets her a bit too worked up to behave properly.

There's always something to look forward to in racing though and the good thing about bad luck is that it can only change so we just have to keep working away and hoping for the best.
Our racing week kicks off on Wednesday evening at Kempton with Winter Snowdrop and Spanish Mane entered. Snowdrop needs a few to drop out to get a run but it'll be good to get her racing again after a while off. She is fit and well and the galloping track should suit her as she just keeps going at her one pace.
Spanish Mane ran a much better race than it looked last time as I wasn't too happy with the ride she got. She is best when making the running or close to the pace but made good progress from the rear last time in a steadily-run race. Her confidence is improving all the time and she is handicapped to win again.

I half thought Southwell might be abandoned on Sunday so I entered Oud Metha Bridge there the following Friday too, just in case. It probably won't be a race as easy as his initial one but he likes the course and is in good form so hopefully he can get us that much deserved winner.
I've entered a few others there but we'll see how they are before declaring.
Limerick Lord ran ok at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening when finishing fifth and he doesn't mind running again quickly so he could take his chance. He loves the track and the blinkers have worked well in his recent runs so he should be in with a shout.
Noble Account and Sea Shack are both entered there too and they ran on the same day at the course last week when finishing in the same position - fourth. I'll keep an eye on them and they might run again if they seem fresh enough during the week.
The final entry that day is Engrave. She was a tad disappointing on her first run for us last time but she wasn't 100% fit and should come on for the run. I think her rating is a bit high so she may struggle to carry top weight here.