My mission today, should I decide to accept it, is to photograph Tesbury Jack’s splint on his nearside foreleg. Splint bones are the remnants of pre-historic toes and run down either side of the cannon in the horse. They can get bumped or knocked and the area can become inflamed and swollen, but will heal with time. Often cannon bandages can conceal them, but Jack’s is on full view. It’s tricky to photograph when he is moving, but here are a couple of attempts. It looks to be a “cold” splint as Tesbury Jack does not appear to be in pain or lame. Wikipedia has a good account of splints if you are interested in more.

The horse is unhappy in the mounting yard and very fractious, with his ears back and grabbed by the clerk. He’s not worth laying at $6.80 for the place and drops out of the race to finish last. On return to scale he’s bleeding from both nostrils. Back in his stall he’s a sorry sight. This is his second conviction for bleeding so he’s now banned from racing in Australia. A sad end for a terrific racehorse.

On a more positive note I was shat on from a great height by a flying swallow. I checked with all and sundry and confirmed that it is a sign of immense good fortune if you are struck by avian excreta whilst at the racetrack. And so it proved.

I successfully layed Johansky for the place as she was not at all happy in her stall and let out an almighty groan. The strapper asked the horse “What’s the matter?” Of course, the horse did not reply, but I always interpret groaning as meaning that the horse would rather be somewhere else. Much like a teenager. So, I decided to oppose it for the place at $1.90. During the run Johanski dropped to the rear, as I expected, but ran on quite well for fourth.

And I backed Broken at $2.20 the place because of the positive strapper – with one hand stroking the horse’s withers all the way round the mounting yard. Broken dived through on the rail for a strong win. Bring on more swallows.

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