Hermann looking out to check the weather: no rain please!
BACK to Perth with Hermann Clermont (4.30) this Saturday, who will be having his second run of the summer up there. He took part in the Gold Cup in June but didn’t see the race out, so we have given him a soft palate cauterisation since. Hopefully that will help him finish off a bit stronger.
He’s a course and distance winner and is on a good mark, so we hope he'll be competitive in what’s a tough race even though it’s only seven runners. The weather forecast is perhaps our biggest concern because there’s a lot of rain due and it could end up quite soft. If that’s the case we’ll probably not run because he wants good ground.
Things haven’t worked out the way Will Ramsay hoped they would after buying him last year but he’s only six and has plenty of ability, so if this wind op works then we’d like to think he’ll get back to the form he was in before and even improve.
It has been a quiet time for the yard racing-wise but there’s been plenty going on at home with most of the winter horses now back in. We’re going through their pre-season training programme, using the deep sand gallop to build up the levels of stamina and fitness they’ll need for the months to come.
It’s amazing to think things are creeping up on us so quickly now and once August is out of the way it will feel like a short run-in to the start of the season proper so every day counts at the moment for getting the horses in the best shape possible.