We are midway through the Derby and still have three left in it but I am missing home and family.

The low point was Sidarian Blaze breaking his hock last weekend. He was operated on by Daniel Docherty who did a great job. The most important thing is that Blaze knows he is fine. He wants to walk and isn’t in pain. Daniel said he thought Blaze might race again, but he won’t be as fast and given his age, I’d be thinking more about about him going to stud.

He will be in a cast for four weeks and we have kept him here. I have more time than Nicky does back in Ireland and he will have a more comfortable journey home in our van than on a transporter.

Of the three that remain, we are still hopeful that we will still be in there on Tuesday night.

Riverside Pat (ht 1) probably has the toughest race with a lot of early pace. In fact, he will probably be better off by missing his break and looking to pick them off later in the race so trap one might not be too bad. Winning isn’t everything, I’d settle for qualification.

Clares Wonder has trap six in the fourth heat which suits him better than five and would appear to have a favourite’s chance. He didn’t break and was held up by Lenson Tiggy at the first bend. He has had another couple of gallops this week and I would expect further improvement.

I’m not quite sure what Gaytime Hawk did last week. He didn’t break, got held up by the poor going on the inside after the bowser had been round, bounced off the rail at the first bend but still got through.

He will hopefully get a better run this week and I will be very disappointed if he doesn’t make it through.

Overall though, Clares Wonder seems to have the best chance of the three.

 

It’s a good thing that I have a good deal with Vodaphone cos this trip would be costing me a fortune.

Every Monday we go through the entries and decide what we are doing with each dog in the kennel. We have about 40 racers and it typically takes a couple of hours.

We run the kennel with a set routine in place and I don’t like to fiddle around with it. It is quite tempting being here, with time on my hands, but I have even taken a few hours away from the kennel so as not to interfere.

The only time I would do something differently is when you have a dog in a final without a chance, and it might be worth experimenting. In general though, my logic has always been, ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’.

 

Eric Cantillon has been a fantastic host and can’t do enough to make me and the dogs feel at home.

But I am popping back to Ireland on Sunday to take in the Produce Stakes Final and spend a few hours at home before heading back on Monday.

Thankfully I have my son ‘Irish Timmy’ here to help out. He is 16 and stayed at home doing exams during my first week here. He then flew over with Liam McLaughlin, the owner of Amazing Dude.

Liam and Eric got on like a house on fire and we have invited Eric to come to the Produce Stakes Final with us.

Amazing Dude looks likely to start a very short priced favourite but I have been in this business too long to take anything for granted.

He has trap one in the final, when I would prefer three, particularly at Clonmel. He has won from red at Shelbourne, though they are quite different tracks.

But Dude has apparently galloped very well a couple of times this week and he goes into the final in top condition.

Unfortunately I will miss the Oaks semi finals on Saturday night. We still have three in it and they are in the same semi.

Ballydoyle Honey will start favourite and although she isn’t ideally drawn in six, I would expect her to hold her line to the bend.

Her sister Hovex Princess is drawn in two and although she runs on strongly, she doesn’t have Honey’s early pace.

Rising Twirl is the youngest of the three and came to us for the Puppy Oaks but wasn’t quite ready. She is a lovely young bitch with good early but will need to trap.

I would hope to get at least two through to the final, though we can only wait and hope.