No pressure…

But it looks like Turfani actually has a chance tomorrow. I’ve finally gotten a chance to take a closer look at the rest of the field, and there’s not much there. Paris Turf and various other tip sheets also like our chances.  Plus, it has rained quite a bit in Normandy over the past day, so the going should be fine. The one downside is that her bloodwork came back and it’s not 100 percent what I’d like to see. Turns out she’s definitely not anemic – her red cell count is actually off the high side of the scale, which is terrific news. But she’s slightly bothered in liver enzymes, which confirms what I’d suspected lately: Her diet is too rich. The numbers are not catastrophic, and not enough to think about scratching the horse. But I’ll definitely be taking her off the Baileys and onto Troffy Rouge, which leaves out the sweet additives that Baileys puts in. I like the Baileys a lot for speed horses, but I’ve found that slower-burning types like Turfani sometimes need a little less in the feed bucket. Basically, it’s like she’s been eating the horse version of cassoulet, when she should be eating steak and salad. Needless to say, I’ve stopped the Hematinic and instead am giving her a few doses of Ekyrenal, an extract of plants and artichokes that will help her detox a bit before the race. We’ll also have to see how she handles the trip – it’s a three-hour drive to the race, but she seems to handle the transport fine. Let’s hope it keeps up.