We could do with a winner but it was not all doom and gloom at Newbury

February 10

February has always been a dark gloomy month, but for all of us at Barbury spring cannot come soon enough as we look to end a winnerless spell over jumps of 17 days, during which we have racked up 27 consecutive losers.

Alan was downbeat after Edwardstone‘s defeat in the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury on Saturday and openly admitted “the horses are not right – it’s as simple as that”.

But the one certainty about luck is that it never stops changing, and two encouraging runs from Favour And Fortune in the feature race, the poorly-named William Hill Handicap Hurdle (why no gold trophy for such a prestigious race) and Baron Noir in the closing bumper will have ensured that the glass of red wine over dinner tasted that much sweeter.

Alan had been pessimistic about Favour And Fortune’s chance when saddling up, as, despite the fact that we were racing on fresh ground, overnight rain had clearly turned the ground to soft, which was never going to suit our Scottish Champion Hurdle winner.

However, Favour And Fortune supporters had reason to get excited when he made a forward move at the penultimate flight, and, though he was run out of third place on the run to the line, granted dryer conditions in March and April we have to be optimistic that Favour And Fortune might well improve on his two runs so far this season and bag one of the big handicap hurdles before the curtain comes down at Sandown.

Baron Noir was an excellent third when stepping up to Listed company, and Alan will weigh up all the options before deciding whether he warrants a trip to Aintree for their Grade 2 bumper or heads for the winners-of-one-race at the Punchestown Festival.

Walking back home after the Newbury finale, I could not help but sympathise with Edwardstone, whose increasing years looked to be taking their roll from the second last as he trailed in the whipper-in behind four younger rivals.

Edwardstone is in his 12th year and in what was not the strongest renewal of the Game Spirit it was sad to see the fire was missing at the business end of the race, How different from 12 months ago when he made all and won this race by 40 lengths, but Alan had been contemplating giving Newbury a miss and stepping Edwardstone up to two and a half miles, so that could be a possibility.