Wednesday 7 January

San Telm's run in Leicester yesterday has sent us scurrying back to the drawing board for a re-think. ST had won very comfortably in Fakenham on his last appearance, but had not jumped fluently that day, so yesterday it was hoped that he would have learned from that and would be slicker at his obstacles and show us that he is a chaser. Not to be - still too careful, he ballooned his fences and was still non too fluent - eventually unseating Josh at the sixth, when he panicked, took off half a stride to early and left his hind quarters in the fence - giving Josh no chance when he jinked to avoid a stricken jockey on the landing side. Apart from re-opening and old wound, ST appears non the worse this morning, and the thought is that is next outing will be over hurdles. There are a number of options between now and the end of the month - and we will give him a couple of days and then start making some plans. We are not ruling out a return to fences in the future, but for now, and for the mental well being of the horse we will revert back to the smaller obstacles. An interesting day at Leicester - with what seemed an above average crowd (2 men and 2 dogs), I was able to look at 2 horses that I have had my eye on for a day or two - one will not be coming - and one needs a bit more homework after his run yesterday - he may well still fill the breach for the rest of the season, more on him later. It looks unlikely that Carolina Wren will go to Huntingdon on Friday - the meeting is odds on to be abandoned, and even if they race the going will be too testing. Colebrooke has only one option at the weekend, and that is in a Grade 2 Novice in Warwick! A tough assignment, but with Ludlow off, and him not qualifying for the handicap chase in Kempton despite having won a chase, he is left with only that as an option. There isn't much for him going forward, so we will have a chat and he may have a run before returning to handicap company later in the month. Smart Exit has an entry in Plumpton on Monday 13th. He will also have an entry in Lingfield on 14th. His main target is Towcester on 19th, but with cold weather in the forecast it seemed silly to miss races that he could run in if Towcester looks like it could be off. Benefit Cut is still on track for 18th in Ascot.