Kempton was fun, but now it’s time to concentrate on the horses at home. Turfani has an entry Wednesday at Fontainebleau; 24 have start declared and only 18 can run, so I’ll have to wait until final decs on Monday to see if we get in. I’m hoping, because it should be a nice easy comeback race for her, which is what she needs because she seems to be a bit fragile, mentally. Physically, she’s in good form, but she is definitely a little worried about what we might ask her to do. It’s clear she hasn’t enjoyed her racing much in the past, and she seems to be carrying some bad memories. The race Wednesday is 2,000 meters for apprentice jockeys, claiming for either 9,000 or 12,000 euros. They don’t get easier than that in the Paris region. She will run for a tag of 9,000.
Tommy, meanwhile, is still on target for his comeback at Longchamp; again, we’ll see once entries are in what the chances are of getting into the race. His target is also a claimer, but for 17,000 euros. I would prefer to run a handicap with him, but he’s been off the track for so long that he has lost his qualification and needs to run a claimer first. We should be safe – he hasn’t run since the autumn of 2007 so no one should even think about buying him.
The rest of the guys are coming along fine, so now it’s just training ahead patiently until they say they’re ready.
hands off everyone, my Tom is not for sale!