After a weekend that could not be scripted Somerville Lodge witnessed triumph and disaster and then subversively when you thought nothing more could happen a gamble was landed on what looked to be the stable second string in the 5.00 at York.
Hopefully horses and jockeys involved in the fall in the Garrowby Stakes can fight another day. It was a stark reminder of the risks taken everyday to provide the sport we love.
Its time to take a breath and reset for Doncaster on Thursday to Saturday and the Irish Champions weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
The yard will only have one runner before Thursday and that is the unraced 2yo Fine Art Dealer at Windsor which will as always be a watching brief.
At Doncaster the ground is currently soft with a little rain in the forecast on Wednesday the meeting should go ahead on good to soft ground.
In terms of races targeted by the yard at this meeting on Thursday they have only had sporadic success and the 5 day entries do not offer a lot to work on, although Gwen John in the Nursery at 1.15 is not over burdened from an opening handicap mark of 78. The yard has sent 8 fillies to contest this race with Glitter Girl landing a gamble with Ryan Moore on board in 2015. The other 7 have ran poorly including Art Design in the same ownership as Gwen John, last year who was a heavily backed favourite but was well beaten.
Santorini Star will have her supporters in the Park Hill but the drop back to 14f does not look ideal, as she goes in search of Black Type in a race the Gosden’s dominate.
Friday looks very tricky and the main interest will centre on Saturday at Doncaster and Leopardstown and the Curragh on Sunday although unlike the weekend just gone the yard has no big history of success and we will be looking at 1 or 2 bets only on Haggas runners at the three main meetings.
Russ Diary of a Season.
Chrysalis Consortium 
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