Thursday 9 February

All digits will be crossed over the course of the next few days for 2 reasons. Firstly this bloody weather! With meetings dropping like Stuarts jaw at Aintree, the number of horses looking for runs is getting longer and longer! This is making a huge back log of runners and when we get going again we will either be balloted out, or the races will be ultra competitive. There is nothing we can do about the weather, but fair play to the BHA who have arranged to put on some 'Bumpers For Jumpers' that should alleviate the problem to some degree. Also a big tick for Musselbrough who have organised a meeting with big prizemoney at short notice for this weekend when they should get a break in the weather. The fingers are also crossed for Colebrooke, who has been struggling with an injury for the past few days. It was not clear what the problem was, and the extent of any damage, so he went to the vets yesterday for further tests and xrays. The good news is that it seems to be just a minor hiccup, but we are far from out of the woods yet - scans and xrays revealed no damage to ligaments and tendons, so his joint was medicated, which will hopefully put him back on track. He will go on the walker for a couple of days before resuming work, and a close eye will be kept on him over the next week or so. We would rather draw stumps now than have a long enforced rest on our hands in the near future. Kikos had a similar proceedure a couple of years ago, and missed no work so hopefully the same will apply to Colebrooke. San Telm and Smart Exit are both in great form, San Telm is still on course for Fakenham and may well be joined there by Ogee and Silver Wren.