Frankenstorm ran an absolute blinder until falling a length down at the last. The horse in front of him also fell, I think he just got distracted for a split second. He jumped the fence almost too well and crumbled on landing. Whether or not he would have won we will never know, Sam felt he was just starting to pick up. He's only 4 and rule of thumb they take a stride or 2 for the penny to drop before they do pick up. I don't work horses off the bridle. He is fine this morning and lives to fight another day, he will certainly have no trouble loosing his maiden tag on yesterdays performance. He won't be back for a minimum of 6 weeks. Barbury Castle has been a lucky course for me in the past (I was leading rider round there for 2 years and trained my first winner there) but this year the table has turned. 2 runners there this season - Knockdhu won well but slipped his tendon of his hock and Frankenstorm tipped up! I am not superstitious but it does make me think!
All horses had routine canters this morning, those which worked on Friday and Saturday all seem fine and will do another serious bit towards the end of the week.
Adien Murphy was here this morning to see primarily, Billy Biscuit, I took the opportunity to show him everything. He was very complementary about all of them.
This afternoon, I moved the schooling fences on to fresh ground, Sam and I will be schooling most on Thursday. It is a joy now that the evening are drawing out, in another 10 days we will all be maoning the ground is like the road.
