Wednesday 1 October

The driest September on record has come to an end, and with it some wet weather arrives in the forecast. We want rain for both Cloonacool and San Telm to run at the weekend.The rain arrives on Saturday, but we will have to declare on Friday (before we see how much we get) to run Cloonacool on Sunday. Uttoxeter say they are watering to produce reasonable ground which hardly fills us with confidence, and if we declare for Sunday, we could force our way out of Monday and Stratford. With more rain forecast on Sunday, we have therefore decided to wait for Stratford on Monday, and run Cloonacool in the 2m 3f novice hurdle. We will wait until later in the week to make a decision re San Telm, but we do have the option of declaring him and waiting for the forecast, as it would not rule him out of any short term targets. All a bit up in the air, but blame the weather!! Benefit Cut had a very enjoyable away day in Lambourn today, and everything went well. He schooled really well and Brendan was delighted with him. He looks set to go to Aintree at the end of the month.