PNicholls

Flu, of both the human and swine variety, is in the news at the moment.

But it is horses' flu jabs that are very much order of the day here at Ditcheat at the moment.

It is compulsory for every horse to have a flu jab every year. But we do so every six months, in July and January - and that is why, traditionally, January is one of our quietest months, as every one of the entire string will be vaccinated.

And once horses have their flu jabs, they have a fortnight on the easy list. About 80 per cent of the string has now been done.

Of course, that is not a reason why we had one of our, thankfully, rare disappointments last weekend. But there were some reasons why a couple of mine ran below expectations.

Granted, we didn't have our A Team out as we had done on recent weekends.

But in some ways it was a relief that some had valid excuses after running below par, and none more so than Mr Hudson. Although he ran a decent race in third, I thought he would win at Exeter.

After scratching my head for a couple of days, we found that he had a bad infection in his hoof and we have been treating it ever since.

King's Legacy was another that I thought would go close to winning but he found 3m on the ground too far, and he will step down in trip.

But, as I half suspected, Taranis needs further than 2m5f these days - he was running an ok race in sixth when falling - and he will now head for the Argento.

Advisor was undoubtedly very disappointing but better ground and further may see him in a better light.

Celestial Halo was another horse I thought had winning claims last weekend. He ran a brave race in third but I am coming back round to the conclusion that he is not a 2m4f horse after all. I think he may want a good test stamina over 2m, so he will go for the Kingwell Hurdle next.

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