Frustrating start to the season

To say it has been a disappointing and frustrating start to the 2023 Flat turf season is something of an understatement. There isn't much anyone can do about the weather but the prevailing soft surfaces everywhere has certainly taken the edge off the opening weeks of the campaign. Even John Gosden commented last week following Epictetus's victory in the Listed Blue Riband Stakes at Epsom that he had told his jockeys not to be hard on their horses once their chance had gone on soft ground the previous week. The Top 40 Prospects in Ahead On The Flat have made a very poor start and, while I might be kidding myself, I feel that is largely due to the conditions. There have been three losers during the last three days and none of the trio appreciated the ground - I suspect the one on Monday was having a third run to acquire a rating before stepping up in trip. Therefore fingers crossed the sun finally shows its face and the ground starts to dry up in time for the likes of Chester and York in the next couple of weeks. 

It is not just those horses featured in AOTF. Bay Bridge, Erevann, Luxembourg and Vadeni are four high profile older horses who have all shaped as though they needed their initial outing in recent days.