The big race Saturday's can go either way and we have with very few exceptions had an excellent recent run with double figure profit a number of times on a Saturday in recent months. After a couple of races yesterday we were 9 points down and frankly nowhere near. Thankfully Hunters Call; Amour Du Nuit and Dhowin pulled us largely out of the fire with places runs and indeed the way HUNTERS CALL travelled it was a shade disappointing it couldn't go through and win a race won by a 66/1 shot.

 

It's always the right thing to look back and analyse when we have poor days, some people take that analysis as an excuse, others see it as constructive and use it as learning, none of us should ever stop learning at anything. I think the analysis of the lack of profit yesterday is absolutely clear cut and something we can learn from. Basically frost covers had gone down on Heavy Going, been down 4-5 days, the ground had not only been kept warmer under those covers but also some weak daytime sun had baked the Going, it was a lot better and firmer than we (and most others anticipated). After 4 furlongs of the Welsh National as an example I knew we were shot, as out and out heavy ground stayers were simply taken off their feet. Each of those selections may well come back and win for us next time on proper Heavy Going. The experience of what may happen under those Covers (the design of which improves by the year) is a lesson that won't be forgotten.

 

On to today and EXETER inspect at 10am. It's been very cold down here in Devon for a few days, prior to that very high winds but little rain. There has been a fair bit of Fog early, but we should be OK and provided the frost hasn't got in down the back straight Racing should be on Soft possibly Good to Soft in places. Afternoon Cloud should hide the bloody annoying low sun issue that can be an issue here.