I will save you the time and trouble. No rain. That’s the long and short, cut and dry of it here in Middleburg. Before you text, call or head down the highway for a walk, that’s my answer. No rain. An eight-race card at Glenwood Park Saturday attracted decent entries and will most likely suffer from scratches. For those of you holding out hope for a miracle rainstorm…it looks unlikely. A bit of rain in the forecast Saturday night and Sunday morning. We need more than a bit.
Riverdee plans on running a few, it’s not ideal, but it’s the hand we hold.
We entered Zabeel Champion in the Temple Gwathmey. A prep for the Iroquois. That’s it. Doesn’t seem possible to get to the 3-mile Iroquois without a jump start. Cool horse, old horse, no options.
De La Cruz is scheduled to make his NSA hurdle debut. Nice horse who won his point-to-point maiden at Old Dominion. American-bred flat horse, with a good chance, in a short field. That’s the thinking.
Jhirsch is another who is scheduled to make his NSA hurdle debut. He was underwhelming on the flat track last season. A winner of two training flat races, the son of Not This Time (yes, that Not This Time) jumped accurately and ran well when put up for the win in the first division of the maiden at Old Dominion.
Wilma Flintshire drops out of a filly and mare stakes at Montpelier and makes her seasonal debut. The daughter of Flintshire hit the board three times over hurdles last season before joining Riverdee.
We entered Cool Jet and Tuddenham Green in flat races at Loudoun Sunday.
In a tough, variable-filled game, a spring drought is just another variable. Well, it’s more than just another variable. It’s a big thorn, a big concern, a big question. When it comes to race horses and race days, thorns, concerns and questions are not what anyone wants.
• Dougie Costello came here to ride Royal Bonsai for Riverdee a long, long time ago. The jockey is on the cusp of becoming the first to accomplish an incredible feat. Cool story. We need to find him a winner at Epsom. Come on George Baker, let’s go.
