Monday 13 April

We headed off to rural Norfolk today with E Major and Sitella. Every paper that I opened this morning suggested that E Major was a good thing. He was making his handicap debut - stepping up in trip and on a track that looked to be tailor-made for a small horse like him. Fakenham was packed 9,000 folks came and there was a really good atmosphere - for those that have never been - do!! It is a really good fun course - where else are you actually encouraged to bring the dog in? It has the atmosphere of a point to point and makes for a great day out. The management do a fantastic job,and the ground was superb, plenty of grass and very level, with seven races staged, all run for decent prize-money. E major was first to go, and although he is only small he failed to handle the bends very well, becoming unbalanced on every turn and changing legs frequently. He really didn't seem to enjoy life around the tight track and given the circumstances ran really well to be a close third (eased near the line). He was tired after the race, and ran his heart out, but seems fine and will be out again in about 3 weeks. Sitella was never really going to set the world alight, and ran very green. There may be more to come, but that looks a long shot at the moment.