Our columnist on the dilemma facing trainers as the jumps season tries to click into top gear in the coming weeks.
It’s a beautiful, sunny, early-autumn day in West Yorkshire.
There’s a slight chill in the air, but blue skies and sunshine are the order of the day. As it is everywhere.
Gordon Elliott criticised the ground at Down Royal on Friday, the taps went on overnight, but there’s only so much you can do to battle Mother Nature. And just before 1.30pm, Heart Wood comes out of the feature race. He joins the raft of big-names still waiting to launch their campaigns.
I wrote earlier in the week about the challenges facing the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase, but some of them are shared with the wider sport. There were 35 runners across the seven races at the big meeting of the day in the UK. Good to firm appearing in the going description clearly one of the drivers of the paltry turn-out.
