We were delayed getting out on the heath this morning by Jack Frost but all credit to the team at the Jockey Club Estates that enabled the heath to be used today. It was still -4.5oc at 6:15am and given it had snowed before the frost arrived, conditions were dicey to say the least. Thankfully everyone has got stuck in this morning and used up their reserves of grit and determination. One member of the team has not been well the last four days and we have therefore been short, when you are a small team it really makes things difficult, in having to deal with adversity we are finding out that our team is strong however and all of the horses have been able to exercise as normal.
It looks like we will have three runners this week. Sir Oliver has been declared to run in a competitive little race at Lingfield on Wednesday. We made the entry when it looked like it would be a small field and it looks a good starting point for him. We have taken off the headgear he has worn on his last three starts and are starting afresh with him. He is a fine looking individual who is still a big baby mentally, even at four years of age and we are hoping to learn something from this run, 6 furlongs looks like the right trip to start him back over, fingers crossed he can show some promise.
Capla Crusader is entered back at Lingfield in the 1m2f opener on Saturday. He was not beaten that far the last day having blown the start, if he jumps better this time then he has obvious claims. Global Prospector is also likely to run in the last at Lingfield on Saturday. He is a horse who possesses a lot of talent but unfortunately has had a lot of problems. He has had a tie forward operation since his last run and we will see if that helps him. Josh has done an incredible job riding him on his own every day as he is a tricky customer when exercised, we will go there hoping he runs well but with no confidence.
London Eye was our only runner last week. He was disappointing but we knew that if he ended up in the kickback at Southwell, we would likely struggle. They went very hard early as they often do there and he could not get close to the front in the early stages. We will find another race for him in the next few weeks, he has some ability there but he is a hard horse to win with as his record suggests.