Donald McCain: Frustrated by the weather

The washout at Bangor on Saturday has caused Donald a few headaches.

Donald has to revise plans for several of his string after Bangor's untimely abandonment.

The weather is starting to become a real pain now. It's no surprise that there are fixtures abandoned in the winter - it's not a new phenomenon after all - but there are so few suitable races to run nice novices in as it is that losing a fixture like Bangor is a real blow, especially for us as it's a track I love to have runners at.

I've got plenty ready to go at the moment and it's hard enough trying to pick and choose the races to keep them apart without extra complications. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again - there are too many races for bad horses at the moment. Obviously I am in a fortunate position that I don't have too many that I can run in 0-100s but when you look at some of these fixtures, there are only half the races I can run horses in.

It's not just a weekday issue either - there are some nice races about at the weekends but some of the supporting stuff isn't what you might expect.

I see Towcester have a card next week with a 3m novice hurdle, a 2m3f novice hurdle and a 2m maiden hurdle and I think there should be a few more meetings that give you opportunities for these horses.

Talking of the weather, given what has happened in some parts of the country we have been quite lucky here, even compared to recent years. 

The all-weather gallop is still in good shape and although the schooling areas aren't always accessible, we can still school them on the all weather if needs be. Being able to keep them ticking over is clearly a big advantage when things turn bleak.

It was quite frustrating to only have one winner at Haydock last weekend as it was a meeting I had targeted a big squad for but it's difficult to be too downbeat about it as most of them ran well and a few, like Corrin Wood, exceeded expectations.

Obviously Clondaw Kaempfer was the highlight and he does look an exciting prospect - particularly as I am sure he will be a better horse on better ground. 

I didn't think Peddlers Cross was quite ready for Ascot last weekend and although I haven't got a firm plan in mind for him yet, he shouldn't be that difficult to find the right opportunity for in time.