Aztec New Year update

It is also Al Jarreau’s birthday. And that of Googie Withers. But for us, how did March begin? GODOT second at Plumpton, beaten by less than a length and later on the card BIRDMAN BOB, second by just over a length. That makes it eleven times runner-up for the season, with four horses having achieved it more than once. Which, as you can imagine, is just a teensy bit frustrating. Our Cheltenham team was always likely to be balloted out of her race, so that was annoying to a lesser degree, but to add to the uncertainty, when drop outs just began to give a glimmer of squeak of a chance of getting in, GOLD CLERMONT picked up a cut on her head (no doubt doing something silly that she saw as terribly important), so would have been touch and go to make the race anyway. She is guaranteed a run in the Midlands National on Saturday, however, and the ground will be right up her street. All we have to do is get around London with the M25 shut…