Friday 23 January

January and February are always a bad time of year for weather, and this year is no exception. If it is not -3 we seem to get an inch of rain, both scenarios meaning cancellation of race meetings! Wincanton holds a record - it has registered the lowest 'Going Stick' reading I have ever seen on the BHA website. The Clerk of the course describes the ground there as Heavy, waterlogged in places, with a going stick reading of 2.6 on the hurdles course and 2.8 on the chase course!! These are the lowest figurses I have ever seen, we knew it was soft enough last Saturday but it looks like it is even worse now and will surely resemble the Somme! Making entries at this time of year is very difficult, as you really are not sure when the horses will be running, and Stuarts job is becoming very difficult. If you intend to run a horse you obviously do not work it hard on the run up to its intnded race, but if that is abandoned, what do you do? Do you work it and risk ruining your chance in the race you are entered for in 3 days or do you still remain on tick over, and risk losing vital fitness if that target also goes by the wayside. It is a very difficult juggling job. I had a chat with Stuart last night and we decided to take a pull and not make any entries for the next 10 days, so that he can actually let the 'ready to run' horses off a little and regroup in a couple of weeks - hopefully by then the weather will have changed a bit for the better. Meanwhile a friend sent me some actual extracts from American court cases that may keep you amused through these dark depressing times. Attorney:How was your first marriage terminated? Witness: By death. Attorney: And by whos death was it terminated? Witness: Now whos death do you suppose terminated it?