Don't worry, I've not lost it just yet! TODAY'S RUNNERS.

Byline: PAUL NICHOLLS 

IHAD hoped my column would be back on a day when we had plenty of runners to talk about, but the quick ground has played havoc with my plans and we're down to a handful at Ascot.

I'm letting Just Amazing take his chance in the United House Gold Cup (1.50) although he's only a novice over fences. He's done ever so well for us over the summer and is due a break some time soon, but he came out of his recent Cheltenham win in great form. He's better right-handed and he'll love the ground, though I'm under no illusion this represents a big ask. I thought the race would cut up and I am surprised there are so many runners.

I had Classic Swain in two races on the card and it was tempting to go for the novice hurdle, as today is the last day he qualifies as a novice. But I wanted to run him in a bigger field, and the better the class of race the better I think he'll be, so the Listed handicap hurdle at 3.00 got the nod. He's been on the go a long time and will be on his holidays soon.

Oslot's form went off completely at the end of last season. He hasn't run over a trip as short as this for over two years, but he hasn't been getting home in his races, hence we're back to 2m1f in the Byrne Group Handicap Chase (3.35). He has to start somewhere.

Irish Airman, our runner in the bumper at 4.10, has been very backward and will improve for the experience.

What with the dry weather, it continues to be a difficult autumn.

I've really stepped some of ours up a gear this week after we suffered a few reverses last weekend, but at the same time I don't want to have masses ready to run but nowhere suitable to take them.

It made me laugh, but to read some reports on last weekend's racing, one bad day and I've lost it! I took a number of our promising youngsters to Chepstow and, it's true, I was disappointed to come away without a single winner. But training a horse for a pounds 50,000 race, when you want it spot-on - eg Poquelin - is a world away from taking one of the babies for its first run in a novice hurdle or a beginners' chase, when it is most definitely not fully wound up.

The likes of Aiteen Thirtythree, Meanus Dandy and Shacklesborough all came to me via plenty of success in point-to-points. Most of them were impressive in their races, but one can never be sure what the form amounts to. They are so well trained by Richard Barber, they often end up scaring away most of the opposition and the races are sometimes quite weak, though they are still gaining valuable racing experience. They can come to me with high expectations but they have to improve to bridge the gap between points and running under rules. As we've seen many times, some will make it, others might not.

I used to get my horses too revved up in the autumn and many were gone by the spring. But we do things differently now. And I came away from Chepstow having learned an awful lot. Some of the youngsters weren't ready; others weren't good enough on the day.

Ruby was his usual philosophical self afterwards. He just said, 'Put a line through it; tomorrow's another day. And it's better to be out of form in October than mid-March'. As for a bad afternoon at the office, I'm only human: last Saturday may have been 1-10, but we are still 27 per cent winners-to-runners overall this season and I'm happy with that. I'll be happier still if the figure is that high come the end of April.

No Wetherby boycott but Charlie Hall should be moved I'm not sending any runners to Wetherby today. I had entered six, but most needed good ground or easier conditions, and that's something that couldn't be guaranteed at declaration time. At this stage in the season, there's no point in taking unnecessary risks. I want to stress in no way am I boycotting the place after the problems they've had up there. If the ground had been easier, I'd have had no hesitation in having runners.

Wetherby has suffered its share of controversy in the last two years, and I don't want to fan any fires, but I question whether they should be allowed to continue staging the Charlie Hall Chase. They normally provide fast summer ground for this fixture, but the first Grade 2 staying chase of the season should not be run on that sort of surface.

I'd like to see the race staged at a track that is more likely to provide easier ground conditions, so that possible Gold Cup-bound horses can contest it without fear of getting PIGEON CATCHER SOMEONE said to me in the week, "I hope you first pigeon catcher in the Racing Post flies faster than your runners did last Saturday!" Our hopes rest on Royal Charm, who goes to Exeter on Tuesday. I think an awful lot of him and we reckon he has the potential to be a really nice hurdler.

CAPTION(S):

Just Amazing: he's done so well over the summer, but I'm under no illusions this is a big ask