Monday 22 March

The inevitable finally happened at Uttoxeter on Saturday - we had a runner in the red, black and white colours pull up. I was really proud of the fact that no runner had ever pulled up in those colours, and for it to be Bobby Gee made it all the harder to take. Add to this the fact that he decided to do it live on Channel 4 and it made for a pretty depressing afternoon! Sam could offer no explanation - he said that Bob was just never travelling, even over the first 1/2mile when he usually takes a bit of a tug, he just was not interested, so it is very much back to the drawing board with him. You can make excuses for him all day long, the fact of the matter is he ran very badly considering he is in tip top health and very fit and working great at home. My thoughts are that he has lost all confidence over fences, and we may just go back over hurdles for now, Sam also said that he felt that he didn't handle the ground at all - which was changed to Heavy after his race, this in itself is odd, as he has relished softer ground in the past, but it seems that he may just prefer a better surface nowadays. The ground would certainly not have helped his breathing, but it was still too bad to be true, and a decision will be made in the next few days as to his next step. The going was a mystery to us all after we declared. The Clerk of the course gave the ground as Good - Good to Soft in places with a going stick reading of 5.4, if you look at the reading for the same meeting last year the going stick reading was 5.6 and the going given as Soft- Good to Soft in places, how then could we have a lower reading and faster ground??!! I appreciate that readings can vary from meeting to meeting depending on the time of year, but surely the same meeting at the same time of year is a fair comparison! Not surprisingly after further rain the ground went to Heavy ( which in my opinion it nearly was before the skys opened). I am pleased to say that Bobby seems fine after his run, and had a day in the sunshine yesterday. A decision on our next step will be taken in the next few days.