24/05/2026
Play Pretend visited Bangor yesterday for what he thought was just a nice day out… and perhaps it was for him… but it was all a little less ‘nice’ for the 4 of us who own him, Dave who trains him and Lee who rode him.
I led him up and was either pulling double in the paddock or planting himself . (Possibly confused that we weren’t at Worcester, Southwell or Market Rasen)
He jumped off at the back and was quite content to stay there … for the entire race. My heart rate leading up almost certainly exceeded his during the race.
In the vain hope of finding him an excuse .. we scoped him, he scored 0 on both counts so couldn’t be any cleaner. Will take bloods and perhaps there is something there we can tinker with 🤞.. otherwise : we just need to try and sweeten him up. 🍬
The track definitely didn’t suit him and I think he sulked that they went off so quickly but it was an extreme sulk… even from him.
That’s the 3rd ever race of his that he hasn’t picked up any prize money and he fell in the other two… so it was a surprise not to see him at least running on in the last half a mile or so.
Alas, he’s been incredibly consistent to this point, he’s only a 5 year old and they’re not machines… as we well know.
He’ll be back 💪… although I wouldn’t be in a rush to lead him up again! 🫣🫠 🥵
Why does it look like I’ve got a banana in my back pocket? What is that? 🧐
Edited to add - I am not that stocky - it’s just a bad angle. 🔲
