Robusto bounces back to form

It was great to see the return of Robusto yesterday at Lingfield.

The son of Churchill's first run of the season at Southwell was a great effort to finish second, when we knew he'd improve for the run. Despite some confidence ahead of his next start at the same track, he ran an inexplicably poor race, but his trainer Eve Johnson Houghton put it down to the effects of the oil seed rape from the fields nearby to home in Oxfordshire. Essentially, this can give horses the equivalent of hay fever in humans. 

So, with that disappearing from his environment recently, it was great to see him bounce right back to form over a trip shy of his optimum yesterday to finish third, beaten only two and a half lengths. 

He is likely to now step back up to 1m 6f and we have a lot to look forward to with this very likeable horse.