Neither would it have done for all the faithful followers of this project to have tuned in on Saturday morning to find that a Friday nap had put us back level so it's no use to you to know that I'm alright, Jack, and retrived my money from the bookmakers as The New One went in at Cheltenham today.
Tomorrow's programme presents plenty of great racing, with Ascot staging Frankel's swansong, and we might as well take the opportunity of having a picture of him here while we can, as well as the jump racing season getting into top gear at Cheltenham.
At Ascot, if Excelebration sees Frankel in the boxes before his race, he will most likely assume he's just going to get another chance to study the superstar's back end going away from him but it will come as a relief and a surprise when he doesn't see him at the start because he's in a different race this time. Excelebration would be being talked of as a truly great miler had he not been unlucky enough to be the same age as Frankel and he'll surely take advantage of being allowed to swerve him but at 4/5, I can't be tipping odds-on shots here.
Havingotascoobydo in the Cheltenham 2.30 is tempting as a 7/1 winner would put this project well in the clear but we aren't supposed to be taking quite such chances as that. And I'm not full of confidence in the hurdle races, and so we go to Ascot on the flat for Sapphire, currently available at 100/30 for looking, with reasonable hopes and expectation, in the 2.55 mares race. She has won on soft and heavy ground at The Curragh, admittedly once at a Frankel price, and hasn't run too often this season. So I'm getting on now.