Well, what a day!  We all got there nice and early to savour the flavour and soak up the atmosphere.  It was a bit cold and grey across Prestbury Park and it would have been a lot nicer had the sun shone.  They had watered the course overnight and unfortunately without the sun shining down to take out that top layer of moisture, the ground wasn’t ideal for us.

Nevertheless, as the hours ticked round and Big Bucks made history in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle, Frankie was being a good fella, all nice and quietly being saddled and prepared by Igor.  And then, we were up in the parade ring – along with armies of others – all trying to look nonchalant yet hopeful, like this sort of thing happens every day!!! And suddenly there was Aidan being given the leg up and off they went!

Well, to be honest, Frankie was never travelling a yard.  He was crowded from the start, never got into a rhythm with his jumping and, I think its safe to say, didnt enjoy the experience.  However, having said that, he did jump round – to his great credit – there has to have been at least three fences where he couldn’t even SEE the fence before he was jumping over it – and he did “nibble the turf” on a couple of occasions.  But he did get round! and finished a gallant 11th out of 22.

The experience will be vital should he be lucky enough to go the Festival in the future, and we had a fantastic day being part of his support crew!

Thank you and Well Done Frankie!