When it rains during the week at Far Hills, everything changes. And it usually rains during the week of Far Hills. Last year, it didn’t. Snap Decision won the big one and people complained it was too firm and it probably was too firm. It was a tough day on horses.
Yesterday was better for the horses. Tougher if you’re an American steeplechasing fan/participant. Brilliant if you are Irish. Brilliant if you’re a Gordon Elliott fan/participant. He definitely divides. The Irish-based trainer won all five jump races. Quite an achievement. Quite a punch to the gut. We all need to be incentivized, challenged. Yesterday provided plenty of both.
Cyber Ninja ran hard, ran well, but couldn’t match the one Irish-based horse in the $150,000 Foxbrook Champion Hurdle. I almost scratched him during the day because of the soft ground, thought about it, looked at the field and thought we could beat all the American-based runners. And we did.
Serifos was overmatched in the maiden. Always on the back foot, he gained another day of experience. I’ll take the blame there.
We’ll be back.
