Oh my goodness me. It is Doug's birthday today but there have been all sorts of problems to begin with - Spud went missing at lunchtime yesterday and hasn't reappeared, which is highly unusual and very worrying, the schooling session was less than perfect to say the least and the rain simply has not stopped, but despite all these woes we went out to the Butchers Arms this evening and had a lovely meal  with Leno as host who has very sadly recently lost his son to cancer which puts everything into perceptive.
We really haven't a clue what to do this weekend as it looks as though the ground is going to be desperate, but it will be sloppy enough to not be too tiring, maybe, or wait for better ground which may never happen. On top of all this we still have to try and keep the owners happy and ensure that the right jockeys are going to be there when we decide we need them. A logistical nightmare.

PLEASE come back Spud