Steeplechasing – I can well believe that germ theory. It’s one perhaps exacerbated further by the near-total absence so far this winter of a cold snap sustained for sufficiently long to kill off plenty of the blighters.
There are some trainers who talk about the germ line, and of how training at hilly locations sufficiently highly above it grants automatic protection against most, if not all, infections of their respective strings. Norman Mason and Richard Guest referred to it repeatedly with regard to their Brancepeth base, and I’m fairly certain Joel Parkinson did in an interview not so long ago too.
Brancepeth is approximately 141 metres above sea level. High Eldwick, home of Parkinson’s joint operation with Sue and Harvey Smith, is about 167 above. Kings Caple, where Venetia Williams is based, is only 66. Significant?
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Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.