Shoeshine Boy wins a thriller at Ayr on Tuesday

The previous race had seen Maid of Houxty run a bit tamely when finishing a well beaten 8th. On current season form she is desperately high in the handicap and does need to drop several lbs. Probably still riding good to soft at this juncture.

But we were a bit buoyed by the arrival of persistent rain showers earlier in the afternoon and by the time of Shoeshine Boy's race, the going was most definitely riding soft. Shoeshine Boy had been in good heart but we feared he was another in the grips of the BHA Handicapper but he put in another progressive performance here when galvanised by Craig Nichol, he got up on the line to beat Release The Kraken by a nose - as the above photo shows.

The story of the race took serious shape when the leader Bak Rocky dropped away 3 out. Craig had our Valirann gelding handily placed throughout and with Release The Kraken, the two protagonists set out for a battle royal over the final two flights.
A slight mistake by Shoeshine Boy at the last appeared to give Release The Bracken an advantage but Shoeshine Boy wasn't done just yet and with the two jockeys driving hard to the line, it was our lad who prevailed. By a nostril.

Hearty congratulations to the Mousetrap Racing members.

This brings up winner #8 for Dodlands Steading for the season which equals our best season numerically, achieved in 2017-18.
Can we find another before the end of this season on 23rd April?
Well, you may have read recent moans on here about lack of soft ground (in some sense this was justified with the going conditions of this race today).
It really is that important.
Perth would seem the best chance for our preferred underfoot conditions in a week's time, so lets see how that pans out.

Shoeshine Boy (Laura) leading the string on the gallops