Friday 19 June

Maypole Lass, for the first time, let the Fences Farm team down a bit on Wednesday. Sent off second favourite for the first division of the staying handicap hurdle in Uttoxeter, she was beaten turning in, and looked to have run no sort of race. As is usual in these circumstances, something usually comes to light, and when Stuart went to load her for the trip home he noticed that she was in season. This can dramatically effect a mares performance, and would explain her lacklustre effort. Unfortunately it was not evident before she ran! She has retuned OK, and should be out again in July - when she can surely not find another reason to dodge losing her maiden tag!! While at Uttoxeter, Stuart canvassed the opinion of plenty of jockeys on the state of the ground in Worcester, where bumper Native Princess has an entry, and the response, in the main, was that the ground was variable. This is not the sort of surface that we wish to risk NP on, and as her next potential engagement is also in Worcester in the middle of July, it has been decided to give her a short break to enable her to come back later in the year when the ground is sure to be more suitable. She is a valuable broodmare prospect, and we would not want to put her in the line of any risk when it is not necessary! Dawn Commander has been a bit stiff since his run in Southwell, so yesterday he had a session of Light Therapy. This treatment identifies the areas where the muscles are tight, and treats them with the necessary frequency of light to relax them. DC seemed to rather enjoy the experience, and should move all the more freely because of it.