Hopstrings will stay in the paddock for a few days, she is sound this morning and didn't leave a nut in her bowl last night. She is some tough cookie.
All the 3 year olds are cantering away, we have backed off them a bit as a few have been giving the odd cough. Better to get it now than in January or February, the likelihood is we will get another bug of some description at some point in the season - I have learnt it is all part and parcel of the job and youngsters are so much more susceptible to everything than older horses. It doesn't make it any easier to cope with, every time I hear a horse cough it is like someone kicking me in the stomach. No wonder when I jumped on the scales at Bangor I was under 12st fully dressed. What I would have given to be that weight when I was trying to race ride. I'd have had to run miles in a sweat suit to get under 12st striped let alone dressed!
I have just been to the filling station to get some fuel and the guy behind the counter who is a massive racing fan went to Worcester this week, he told me that Pimms was 9 pounds a pint! I would imagine it had more fruit and lemonade in it than Pimms. How they can justify charging that I do not know. It is a absolute disgrace to insult your customers with such charges. Racecourses are always bleating about crowd numbers, this sort of carry on only drives them away. I think they should be held to account for this type of behaviour. If I had ordered it prior to realising the price they would have been told to hang onto it when requesting payment.
