Fete Champetre
TWO runners at Musselburgh today on soft ground after a rainy few days up in Edinburgh. FETE CHAMPETRE (1.55) hasn’t run since finishing 5th over two miles at Carlisle back in October. He’s not the most straightforward horse to train and with the weather we’ve had it’s been hard to find a race for him, since he prefers good ground. We’ve decided to come here because Musselburgh soft is usually better than other places. Hopefully this trip on a flat track will suit him well. He’s long overdue a win over fences so with his dropping mark - he’s now 11lbs lower than when starting out in handicaps - hopefully he can get going in the right direction once again.
GET WITH IT (2.55) ran much better with the visor on at Ayr last time and Craig Nichol suggested stepping him back up to three miles again. Musselburgh might not be the ideal place for him over that trip, but again we’re looking to find some better ground. If he runs like he did at Ayr then down in grade this afternoon I’d hope he’ll have a good chance. We’re riding him slightly differently now, so we’ll see how being a bit handier works out here.
Our form is a bit iffy just now so that does make me slightly nervous. We had two disappointing runs at Doncaster over the weekend but nothing has come to light afterwards. The horses all seem fine at home so we really need something to step up and win now - that would be the perfect Christmas present!