Lead Belly Day Update
Today would have been the 138th birthday of folk blues pioneer Lead Belly, in the unlikely event that he were still alive.
YASMINA makes it into her second update of the week. We sent her to Windsor as she had come out of her previous race in tip top nick and there was a hefty prize pot with relatively few entries. We tried a change of tactics, sitting more prominently this time and she travelled sweetly, dodging a faller quite nimbly too. Unfortunately, she did a bit too much early in the race and drifted back to fifth late on. It was probably the very soft ground that foiled her more than tactics. Next day the mud was flying at Lingfield, but GODOT ran excellently to finish second over hurdles. Racing near the front, he got a bit outpaced down the hill and lost a handy position, but late in the race he stayed on gamely to put those that had overtaken him back in their place. He was beaten less than five lengths, but it is hard to see where he could have done anything more to have narrowed the gap. Considerably less at home in the mud on the same day was SOMKIYR.
Next stop on the Shovelstrode outing looks like being Plumpton next Monday.