‘It’s grim darn south’.

And it certainly was on the day of Muffins seasonal debut down in deepest Kent. We arrived at Folkestone racecourse on a cold blustery day and took immediate refuge in the owners bar with the rest of the TRG team. Judy arrived having drawn the short straw in the travelling stakes, and we all settled down to watch the stables other runner at Bath. Twelve guilders and Judy roared Carson’s Spirit home, the rest of the bar in quiet amazement as you would expect as he was a 20/1 first time out winner.

Needless to say this had the team in a buoyant mood and prepared us well as we braved the elements in the parade ring. Muffin looked alert, fit and very keen – almost too keen at one point. A second handler did the trick. A confident jockey Fergus Sweeney agreed the plan to take advantage of our favourable draw and take close order behind probable front runner Psycho Cat on the far rail. The ground was officially good to soft and Muffin traded at 9/1 in the ring at the off.

Everything went to plan, all the runners went to the far rail and Muffin broke well, taking a strong pull, racing prominently never being out of the first four. He stayed on in the closing stages looking to have every chance inside the final furlong failing by 1 length and ¾ of a length to finish 3rd.

The collection of monies from the guilders each way vouchers was put on hold as we all dashed down to the winner’s enclosure to greet Muffin. In the de-brief Fergus was more than well pleased with Muffin’s performance and said that he will come on a lot for the experience, having run green during the race. He also remarked that 6 furlongs seemed to suit and that 7 furlongs may well also be a suitable distance in the future.

Course commentator Dave Smith (and he must have seen a race or two in his time) came down to congratulate us saying that he was very impressed with Guilded Warrior’s performance.

It is worth noting that unlike Muffin, the winner, second and fourth had all had previous outings this season and after today’s run Muffin must surely have every chance of winning a similar race.

We all retired to bar just in time to avoid the downpour – though a few hardy members spurred on by the day’s events were confident enough to do battle with the near horizontal rain.

A big thank you to Judy, Stuart and all the staff for their tremendous efforts that gave us all another memorable day on the racecourse.

And of course a big thank you to Muffin!

Time 4 bed.

Martin ‘zeberdee’ Lawrence