LOL if nothing else that just gave me a great laugh, reading BJ's reaction to the results. I don't mean to be rude, I know the feeling only too well, which is precisely why I was able to laugh with it. No offense, I've been down that same road, and I know that joyful anticipation at the beginning of the day, that fresh, dawn feeling of starting out on something new, wondering "maybe this is it, maybe this is the one", only to have all the hope and joy transformed into bitterness, anger, profanities and alcohol by days end. Fear not, you tread that road not alone.

As to gear changes - I reckon heaps of them are best ignored. Still the best one is if you have a young, green horse trained by a good trainer and they whack blinkers on the ************. They will no doubt have trialled it with blinkers and it no doubt improved, and it also means it's no doubt trying. Nose rolls, shadow rolls, pacifiers, barrier blankets, ************s, blinkers, one eyed trouser snakes - they're all just signs that the horse is temporemental and the trainer is desperate. Steer clear of them.

To paraphase Don Scott (crudely)

"the best horse is calm, composed in the yard. He doesn't lash out, or shy away from the crowd, just walks measuredly around the yard, head down but a glint in his eye and a gleam in his coat."

In fact, that's not even paraphasing. It's guessing. I have no idea what he actually said word for word, but it was along those lines.

Duritz