Thursday 7 May

A few long faces at Huntingdon last night - where E Major ran a disappointing race in the 2 mile handicap. He has been in great form, and although stepping back in trip was not ideal we did think he would run well and finish in the first two. At the last meeting at Huntingdon there were a number of withdrawals due to the very quick ground, and last night it was clear that Andrew Morris the Clerk Of The Course had done a great job and produced some good, very safe jumping ground.Uunfortunately that was our downfall - EM needs very quick ground to be at his best, and just could not pick up on that ground. This allied with the fact that the trip was too short meant that he was well beaten into fifth. The good news is that he seems fine after his run and we will now step him back up to 2 1/2 miles and hope that the weather forecasters are right, and we are going to get a very long hot summer. A quick note about Jonathan Neesom, with whom I heave rarely seen eye to eye - but how he can stand at Cheltenham and tell the TV audience that our horse had 'thrown it in' is beyond me. Surely it would be better to be in command of the facts before pontificating to the nation! But what more can you expect from a man who once stated that Ogee would never win a race until he was dropped back to 2 miles and had 'some form of headgear applied'. A very learned statement to make about a subsequent 3 mile Grade 1 winner - with no headgear!! Ogee just happens to be very genuine and really quite talented!!