Thursday 23 February

Another second yesterday with Apasionado, but he ran a cracker!! Josh Moore rode - his first ride back since he dislocated his shoulder in Huntingdon on Boxing Day. It was a nice one to come back to! Back on a sound surface, AP was back to his best, although the race was not going to be run to suit so he had to go out and do his own donkey work. We already knew that doing this would not see AP at his absolute best, but it was preferable to burying him in behind a dawdle and have him pull his chances away. The job was made even harder as he had to deal with very high winds, and in effect we probably set it up from the eventual winner, but he certainly lost nothing in defeat! He has posted some very impressive figures for yesterdays run. We will have to see what the handicapper thought of the run, and make a plan after that, he has an entry in The County Hurdle, and could also get an entry in The Imperial Cup in Sandown on March 11th in case it came up Good ground there. He really would appreciate a strongly run race, and a handicap would suit him far better - so we should have a smashing spring with him! He seems fine this morning.Another one that would like a sounder surface is Tricky Silence, so with Warwick now Heavy in places, he will not be declared to run there, and the same applies to Maria's Benefit. Both will have entries going forward.