Rose and Brazil to brave the heat

Rose of Egypte will debut in Compiegne tomorrow, and Little Brazilien will be seeing the track for the first time since last fall. Both will be interesting races to learn from, but I don’t think either one will result in money. Rose is a very big filly, and probably needs more time, but she should get a taste of competition and will do that in a 1,400-meter claiming race. She is one of only two debutants in the 12-runner field. Brazil, meanwhile, also needs to get back in the swing after a long layoff. I wanted to get her moving sooner, but she has just kept growing nonstop since the spring. The joke around the yard is that we’d have to order an extra-large starting gate so her huge back end would fit. Turns out she fits fine, and certainly knows what the gate is about. She rocketed out during training last week, and I suspect she’ll do the same tomorrow. I think she will definitely need this race; she’s still growing and probably won’t really hit her stride until a bit later, but it’s time to get on with it. The heat hasn’t broken, which will continue to weigh on the horses – especially Brazil, because like a lot of big girls, she sweats profusely and doesn’t handle high temperatures particularly well. We’ll do our best to keep both of them cool and collected tomorrow. I expect we’ll be spending quite a lot of time in the showers…