Transfer Day Update

Today is Transfer Day in the US Virgin Isles, commemorating events in 1917 when the islands were sold to the US by the Danes, for the price of $25,000,000 and the US ceding all interest in Greenland. Well, that’s gone swimmingly…

Just the two runners since the last update, and neither made the frame, but there is more to tell beyond the bare result. The first was GODOT at Fontwell. He had been posting some very disappointing shows lately and there was the thought that he had decided to retire himself from competitive sport. However, this time he completed and was in the shake up for a place right to the end (the winner, from an in-form yard, proved to be a bit of a handicap blip on the day). Oscar gave him a nice ride to keep Godot in the mix and also convince the horse that he wanted to be there. The solution is probably that Godot just needs to be running in a lower grade these days than has historically been the case and the handicap mark is gradually allowing that.

After that we were off to Ascot with EVERYONESGAME. It was his first run for over three months and he brought with him the baggage of a non-illustrious history when returning from a break. He did not undo that but did run quite well and was only three lengths off of finishing third when they crossed the line. Very satisfactory and Freddie said it should put him spot on for a race at Plumpton in mid-April that has been rescheduled from the abandoned Sussex National card.

As per usual, it is next stop Plumpton at Easter, where we have entries on both days. One of those was TROPICAL SPEED, but the handicapper reassessed his chase mark up since his abortive chase debut before joining us, which means that he is not qualified for his intended race. We would never subscribe to the view that the handicappers are in thrall to an evil power that just wants to disrupt plans for owners and trainers, but we can see how other people may subscribe to that conspiracy theory. Just kidding…

Here are two of the “in the news” horses – Everyonesgame and Tropical Speed