Kelso and on.......

Well, a tricky sort of day at Kelso yesterday, very warm, a few people caught out by the rapidly drying ground and a water crisis admirably resolved by the racecourse staff - all served to remind one that National Hunt horses should really be out in the field at this time of year...... hmm, Goldtrek nearly unshipped Lucy at the first and lost a bit of ground but she ran a fine race after that to finish 6th and is going to shape up into a nice hurdler, she loved the ground, Or de Grugy ran well for two mile but ran out of petrol quite quickly, it would be good to find out what is ailing him as he has lost his form; Commercial Express once again showed that Kelso isn't really his track, he was staying on into 6th when he appeared to go lame on the run-in, he has been well-bandaged up by the excellent on course veterinary team and we will see how he is in a day or two. Some fine pictures of the day taken by Dennis Penney, see them here (if it works!).
Tonight at Carlisle Lucy rides on the flat again, this time Billy Dane in the 6.20 then tomorrow night we head to Hexham where Balwyllo makes his stable debut in the 6.15 under Catherine Walton, 9 run and the ground is likely to be on the fast side of good.  This horse hasn't shown much and is lowly rated, I'm not sure what his trip etc will be yet but I really can't believe he isn't a little better than his rating would indicate, if he handles the track I would expect him to go well.  We then run Isla Patriot (Peter Buchanan) and Northern Flame (Lucy) in the 9.15, 17 run though the latter will only line up if I am happy with the ground, Lucy also rides Naiad de Misselot in the 7.45........... will be a late night and an early flight on Wed morning to Venice for two nights with Clare and Mrs A, Lucy looks like heading on to Sedgefield and Wetherby before we all meet up again at Cartmel at the end of the week........