It will be at least three months before we know whether Queen Beyonce will ever race again.
She came off the track very sore in her Derby semi final. I had her checked over by Cecil Law who found a shoulder joint problem.
They aren’t normally so serious, but by now she should be walking normally and she isn’t. Hopefully, it is just taking longer to respond than we might expect but if it continues, you would have to wonder whether it is something more serious.
It is a blow but she is otherwise fit and healthy. The Derby gave her a chance to show what a top class bitch she is.
If it meant retiring her now to have a litter of pups, we would be disappointed but not devastated.
Semi final night was quite tough to take with both Beyonce and Sheeran going out. In his case, I stick by the theory that Nottingham isn’t a track for wide runners.
I am not being critical of the track in general, but it is a long run to the bend. The dogs are absolutely at top speed when they get to the turn and I would be interested to know if they could give it more banking to allow dogs like Sheeran to gallop around it.
So it was a long ride home from Nottingham last week and it took a few days to get over the disappointment but life goes on.
It makes a massive difference having a boss like Brendan (Keogh) though. He would have been as gutted as myself and Liz on the night but all he said was “Don’t worry Rab. Nobody died. If you had won it this year you wouldn’t have had as much to look forward to next year.”
Sheeran is off to Swindon for the Produce Stakes. I have had to scratch Beyonce but will still be taking seven along with Kings Cash, Idol, Lennon, Dylan and Diamond plus Queen Cher.
On Thursday we will be at Hove with King Turbo with plans for the Sussex Cup.
There is also good news about King Elvis who has six bitches booked in for mating in his first week at stud.
