A lovely morning but wet and windy again this afternoon as another weather front sweeps through. Huge congratulations to our Barn Manager and Amateur Jockey Jesika Rennie who this afternoon came 1st & 2nd on her two Jockey Start rides for Will Ramsay at the Alnwick point to point – well deserved. Weather warning for rain at Carlisle tomorrow, hopefully the lightly raced inside track will take it, but it is bound to ease from the current description of soft. We have three declared runners, all ridden by Bruce and all have a question mark as to whether they will handle the conditions.
First up is TakeyoutotheIsland in the 12.10; I was a little disappointed with where he finished in his bumper, he was probably too keen early on. This is his hurdling debut and he face a couple of smart types so tomorrow will be about giving him a good educational experience. His schooling has been really good – 9 run.
Takeyoutotheisland
Half Track runs in the 12.40; he was was hampered early on last time over course and distance and lost his rider so we will be hoping for a less eventful race this time. He was a good 2nd here this time last year and is 10lb lower now so if he handles the conditions he ought to be competitive- 8 run.
Half Track
Our final runner is Platin Moon in the 14.13; we have put the hood back on and plan to change tactics so if that works he should run very well at this level so long as he handles the idiosynctratic track – 10 run.
Platin Moon
At Hexham on Wednesday Whiskey on Ice made a satisfactory stable debut though would prefer better ground; Orkney Blue failed to run his race and was found to be lame behind after appearing to strike into himself. At Newcastle on Thursday we were very happy with L’Appel du Large’s debut despite an ostensibly disappointing finishing position – plenty more to come from him.
Coconut Splash (Kit) as the sun came up this morning