“I dream about all sorts of things but often they end up as nightmares.”
Malcolm Jefferson was speaking from the winner’s enclosure at Aintree in April 2015 after Cyrus Darius had won the Top Novices’ Hurdle.
Those dreams had to be put on hold for 18 months by a leg injury, but every trainer hopes that the next horse can bring the next dream and that could be Mount Mews who runs in the totescoop6 Premier Kelso Novices' Hurdle this afternoon.
A lifetime in the sport means that Jefferson takes the philosophical approach including when Mount Mews was caught on the run-in at Wetherby in January. “He could have been unbeaten,” Jefferson said. “He just got into the lead a bit too soon. It’s just one of those things because he’s still a bit babyish and learning.”
There were no mistakes next time out at Doncaster, when Mount Mews won by 14 lengths, and Jefferson feels now is the time for step up in class.
“He’s in great order. We’d have liked the ground a bit better than what it is, but it’s the same for them all,” he said.
Jefferson will be keeping Mount Mews for the Grand National meeting at Aintree in April but has a decent team to take to the Cheltenham Festival later this month headed by Cloudy Dream in the Arkle Trophy and Cyrus Darius, who runs in the Champion Hurdle.
Cyrus Darius had been off the track for 485 days until running at Haydock in January and then won the Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso last month.
Injuries are part and parcel of racing but, after some upbeat early bulletins, it now appears that George Baker may be away for long than first anticipated.
The jockey remains in a stable condition in hospital in Switzerland after a fall on Sunday but faces a long recovery after it was revealed he suffered bleeding on the brain.
Baker, who rode Harbour Law to win last year’s St Leger, suffered the injuries when Boomerang Bob was brought down in the first race at St Moritz.
A statement from the Professional Jockeys' Association said: "Having had CT scans earlier in the week George underwent an MRI scan today.
Following those MRI scan results, George has suffered from some bleeding in the brain and we are anticipating a long rehabilitation process, but are hopeful he will make a positive recovery.”
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