TRIBE being led by Sophie Webber.

The ultimate accolade given to a horse at Cropredy Lawn is to be allowed into the garden! During a 'light lunch' to celebrate his win with his owners, Iain and Linda Watters, TRIBE is brought in to join the party!

TRIBE, winning at Bangor on 17th April 2010, our last winner of 2009/10 N.H. Season.

Unlike Nature, National Hunt seasons appear to merge seamlessly into each other, whereas Nature has trouble changing at all nowadays!!

Out with the old and we're straight into the New the following day, no time to reflect or dwell on the good bits, just time to crack on and improve on the less good.

I was thinking of writing a long and detailed end of term school report, but with the exception of my framed Maths reports of the Lent and Summer terms of 1974, which were epic (!), every single one has quickly ended up in the bin. I'm sure you'd do the same to mine, so we will look forwards and not backwards. Jim Steinman wrote, "Objects in the rearview mirror may appear closer than they are", so the relevance of looking back can be questionable!

We will have learned plenty from the disappointments of the season and endeavour to improve our performance. We would particularily like more and longer periods of horses performing consistently well, rather than purple patches that just last a month or so. We have had an inordinate number of seconds and thirds, with less winners than we'd like, so the aim has to be to transform the former into more of the latter.

Placing the horses is a balance between opportunity of winning and convenience for the owner; I wonder if sometimes I get this balance wrong and don't insist enough that the horse must be given preference over the quality of lunch!!

APPLEADAY, ridden by Alistair Stewart leads first lot through 'The Waterwalk'.

Thank Goodness for TRIBE !

After seconds with COIS FARRAIG, ALASI and DE SOTO, it was good to watch TRIBE 'hack up' at Bangor on saturday. At last all conditions were in his favour and he won well, much to the delight of his loyal owners, Iain and Linda Watters. Iain knows a thing or two about wine, so a bottle of 1985 Krug, given to me after Ulundi won at Royal Ascot all those years ago, had to be opened when they dropped in on their way home to check on their victorious warrior! Wow that tasted good!

AN 'ATMOSPHERIC MORNING' FOR WORKING THE HORSES ON THE GRASS GALLOPS AT EDGCOTE.

ROCKSTOWN, OSCAR 4G., SOMEWHAT INEVITABLE, MRS. TRELLIS, SUSSEX SUNSET and ALASI, all doing good work.

Our 'tricky' week moves onto Kempton this afternoon, where i admit to feelings of uncertainty after the reverses in fortune with APPLEADAY and TIME FOR RUPERT.

COIS FARRAIG deserves to win a race more than any other horse in training in Britain! Having been second to Oscar Whiskey and Lush Life, he must be about the highest rated maiden in the country and hope he is no longer that by tonight! DANCES WITH WAVES has another attempt to show us if she is going to co-operate and 'jump off' properly today otherwise she'll be on the boat back to Ireland. I so hope she repays her owner, Michael Lee's patience and loyalty to her. MERCHANT RED makes his comeback after 524 days and has done as much work at home, at Peter Cundell's beautiful grass gallop and at Bangor Racecourse, that he should be fit enough to go close. TRIBE and FIRM ORDER will both love the drying ground and have good each-way chances at generous odds.

Me, I just hope for one winner to get us back on the roll we were on, two weeks ago!

ANALYSIS OF A 'NON-RUNNER'.

Sorry to make you all splutter over your coffee and Racing Post this morning. Yes, our big day has disappeared and TIME FOR RUPERT is a non-runner at Aintree this afternoon. You will all be aware how deeply we have deliberated over the decision to have a re-match (however one-sided) with Big Bucks and the overwhelming reason for doing so was T.F.R.'s apparent great health. 'RUPERT' has been in terrific form ever since twenty minutes after his Cheltenham race. Because of 48 hour declarations, he was 'tracheal-washed' after exercise on tuesday morning before the 10am deadline. His throat and larynx looked crystal clear, no sign of our three enemies, mucus, blood or inflamation, however the liquid extracted from his lung was very slightly cloudy, or at least 'not quite water', as we love to see. Tuesday evening revealed a total white cell count of 400, well within our contented range of 1000, but the percentage of neutrophils was 24%, higher than normal. Why, was the question that left little chance of sleep on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, 'RUPERT' was mad fresh and his devoted lad, Danny Hannig, who could not know this horse any better, volunteed that his horse was 'stronger and fresher than before Cheltenham'. Everthing looked set for Aintree. When our vet arrived we discussed the 'cell count' and i felt that considering the task ahead, we should not just trust our 'eye' and re-scope the horse. I promise it was a borderline decision, because we do not wish to scope horses one more time than neccessary, as it is invasive and always seems unkind to do so.
This time, instead of a crystal-clean, pink wind-pipe there are large lumps of greeny-grey mucus and porridge instead of liquid. We contact his owners and ruin their day and then announce him as a non-runner. His cell count last night had rocketed up to 3000.
There is enormous sadness around the yard at being denied a crack at the 'Big Horse' and a big prize, but also a huge sense of relief at what might have been. Imagine the disappointment of our treasured 'RUPERT' trailing in a beleaguered fifth and everybody saying that we were too greedy and had mis-judged the horse; let alone what internal damage we might have done to the horse himself? His poor run would have been put down to 'having a hard race at Cheltenham etc.....' but it would have been so much more than that.
I hope this explains how hard everybody tries to make sure that every horse CAN do its best when it goes to the races, though by no means guaranteeing that that they WILL! In this case,48 hour declarations have cost the owner all his entry money but have saved the punters all their money.
I hope the punters will have the grace to thank the owners one day!

Thankfully all the Easter bunnies have been scared away by Pasha my lurcher and our computer wires are restored.
HERE'S THE KEY lost your/our each-way money yesterday at Huntingdon, because she appeared 'in season' after the race. There is no way of telling how a filly or mare will respond to being asked to race whilst coming into season, until you try. Some pay no attention and run their normal race, while others are affected and usually do not wish to exert themselves unduly. Our filly fits in the latter category and would not quicken when asked and never had a 'blow' after the race, as she just 'went through the motions'.
Not a great couple of days, especially as nerves are beginning to jangle a bit around here, ahead of TIME FOR RUPERT's rematch with Big Bucks at Aintree on thursday.
We have all pondered what to do, but the deciding factor has been that the horse seems in such good form at this moment that we would be foolish to miss the opportunity. You may think that the wise and sensible thing to do is to skip Aintree and wait for Punchestown, but what about the weather, length of journey and how can we guarantee the horse's well-being in two weeks time?
I'm there to be shot at......... but what's new! I trust in RUPERT.

........... Sorry about the News Page Confusion today, our internet connection has had its wires nibbled by chocolate-starved Easter Bunnies, i fear!
............ I was detailing yesterday's moderate performances and saying that SARANDO's season should probably have ended at The Cheltenham Festival, as he appeared 'over the top' when running an undistinguished 'flat' race. It's one of the most difficult obsevations for a trainer to make to be able to spot an 'O.T.T.' horse at home as they show all their usual signs of well-being, only to disappoint at the races. Nevertheless, this horse has made giant improvement this season, although i think the handicapper has over-estimated his achievements, but i suppose we'll see the real value of his form when The Minack runs at Aintree later this week.
LLAMA FARMER also ran pretty miserably as we have continued high hopes for this horse. He faded very quickly and i have a deep suspicion that this horse may have a wind problem that does not manifest itself with any type of 'noise'. The Vets tell us that a third of all horses with wind impediments never actually make any noise, which makes diagnosis ever more difficult. It is time for his summer(!) holiday now and then we'll operate on him before he starts serious work in August. KRISTALLO was unfortunate in that there was no pace in his race at Kempton and he was done for speed in the straight, but I also get the feeling that he will benefit from us decorating his head with a lovely bright red pair of blinkers to match his colours! When/If the ground ever dries up he will be more effective over hurdles.
We have to put yesterday quickly behind us and plan for an important week. HERE'S THE KEY runs at Huntingdon tomorrow after an unfortunate experience at Towcester last time. She jumped the second hurdle perfectly that day, but landed on the back of a hesitant and errant rival and completely lost her confidence and equilibrium. She has schooled very well since and has a good each-way chance.
A major quandary is looming at Aintree on thursday. Should TIME FOR RUPERT be allowed another crack at Big Bucks or is that a futile plan? There are so many factors both for and against another crack at an undoubted superstar or should we wait for Punchestown?
We will deliberate, cogitate, ruminate and stay up late, then leave the decision to the last possible moment.

What a difference a day makes.................... Just when all the horses were running to their optimum abilities, we have a day like yesterday!

APPLEADAY disappoints at Carlisle and when we 'scope' him this morning we find a load of mucus in his lungs. His tracheal wash was clean on thursday, but he must have succombed to an infection during friday which was probably then exacerbated by a four hour journey up the M6.

A nasty shock for all involved as we thought the track would have suited this horse well, although i do admit that the ground deteriated even more than we would have hoped. The important thing is to quickly find a good reason for such a bad run and to treat him immediately.

There was always a chance that SARANDO's season should have ended at Cheltenham.

What a difference a week makes.............