My boys have been in the wars but Goshen can lighten up the week at Ascot
POOR Jamie has been in the wars again — it’s fair to say he’s never had much luck with injuries.
His career has been plagued with them and he picked up another nasty one on Tuesday.
PAHopefully Goshen can brighten up a miserable week for the family[/caption]
He suffered a C7 vertebrae fracture, broke several ribs and was left with a concussion.
It’s been worrying but Jamie’s made of sterner stuff and will bounce back, you can’t keep him down for long.
It’s going to be a long road though and he’ll need a neck brace for four to six weeks.
We don’t know when he’ll be back, but he’ll get all the support he needs and I won’t be rushing him.
It’s been one of those weeks — to put it mildly — for the family, with Ryan forced to give up his Japan Cup ride after also taking a tumble.
He’s heading home but he’s aiming to head over to Hong Kong in a few weeks for some serious dosh and shouldn’t be out for too long.
On the track, if there’s going to be a race this season that Goshen wins, it’ll be the Ascot Hurdle today.
He’s a quirky lad but he was at his best to win this last year and I’d be disappointed if he didn’t do it again.
We don’t have Jamie this time but I don’t have to worry on the jockey front — Niall will do the business.
Niall has shown his quality on Editeur Du Gite and if Goshen is on a going day, he’ll have no issues getting him home.
Speaking of Editeur, he was very disappointing in the Shloer. He’s better than that, so we’ll regroup and wait on the handicapper.
If he drops him enough, he’ll go back into a handicap, but I’m not counting my chickens there.
As the small fields this week — and the walkover at Warwick — have shown in the last few weeks, something needs to change and soon.
People are scared to run in these novice chases and I can’t blame them — the money isn’t worth the risk.
No one wants to finish close to a higher-rated one, the handicapper then take it literally and ruin their entire season.
The handicapper has the easiest job in the world — it’s like weighing sugar — but it doesn’t feel like they watch racing.
They need to take the context of the races into account, rather than slamming horses for big winning distances or finishing closer to better horses.
Just look at Le Patron. I was chuffed by his win at Sandown, but an 11lb rise feels crazy when other horses in the race probably underperformed.
It’s a sad state of affairs and I don’t know what the solution is — that’s one for the big wigs — but I think we all know where we need to be pointing.
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