Wendy (Hanover Lady) is named as a reserve for the week-end at time of writing whilst Horse Outside is completing his convalescence.

So we rely on Woody (Fleetwood Rocker) and Oscar (Oscar Lima) to fly the flag for the club this week-end.

Woody tackles A1 rivals at 9.45 on Friday. Our blue, in trap four, is ‘in the mix’ for a share of the glory in a reasonable heat that doesn’t feature any world beaters. Fit and freshened by his look around Romford on Monday, Woody holds decent chances if the dice roll his way.

Oscar is duly penalised for his A3 win last week and faces a decent bunch of opponents in the final race (A2) on Saturday. The striped jacket, and potentially sloppy going, gives our dour black and white stayer some kind of chance but it’s fair to say Oscar, who is pretty exposed at A2 class as a rule, would need things to go his way to grab gold.

Update – Wednesday evening: Woody is a reserve for the Coronation Cup heats at Romford on Friday.  This puts his run at Wimbledon in doubt. He can’t be entered in two races on the same night come the day so Norah has a dilemma.  Talking to her on Wednesday afternoon my sense was that we were left with having to keep him in at Romford though Norah may call them to try and swerve.

Bottom line is that he may not run at all now on Friday ie he remains a reserve but doesn’t get in and misses out at Wimbledon.  Watch this space or check with Norah on Friday for further details.