The conditions are still not great but we managed to do a bit of work with the horses. We were hoping to school them but the ground was frozen so we tried to get them to jump an easy fix fence on the all weather round gallop. Not a huge success with only Budge and Rock jumping it beautifully, the others Jake, Harry, Cloud and Endo either refusing to jump it at all or cat leaping it. If it thaws out tomorrow we will quickly school the Brocklesby three again before we leave for Cottenham. We are only taking Don't Budge Me to Cottenham tomorrow (if it is on) as Cloud has a sore back. Will has been trying out different racing saddles this last week and it would appear that they didn't quite fit her. That would almost certainly explain why she didn't school well as she normally leaps everything with enthusiasm.
We entered Popaway for Leicester after checking with Weatherby's that she was eligible as although it was a novice steeple chase the conditions said that hunter chases didn't count and as long as she hadn't won any since before May 2013 she could run in. They confirmed twice on the phone that she was eligible and then phoned tonight to say that she wasn't after all and they had got the dates wrong. It should have said May 2014. Such a pity as it looked a really nice race for her but better that we know now rather than her running in it and then getting disqualified after the race. That could have been hugely embarrassing! She will probably run at Thorpe instead now on the 15th.