Weather takes its toll on horseracing

It has not been a great week for jump racing and today (Wednesday) we have lost all the planned jump race meetings in the UK - and there were 3 planned at Leicester, Ludlow and Newcastle.
Tomorrow, Towcester's card is already in doubt with an inspection planned for today at 1pm, and Wincanton is due an inspection at 7:30am tomorrow morning. With rain forecast throughout today, it looks doubtful that either of these meetings will go ahead.
Friday's planned meetings at Catterick and Cheptstow also look doubtful. Chepstow is having an inspection as I write this blog but with the course waterlogged in places and rain forecast for today, Thursday and Friday (when it could be very heavy), it is difficult to see a positive outcome. Catterick on Friday is probably the best chance of jump racing before the weekend.
Saturday see's 3 meetings at Sandown, Ffos Las, and Wetherby and the ground is already heavy at all these tracks and we've yet to have the forecast rainfall.

As such, I'm using my free-time to put together my Cheltenham Festival Bulletin for 2014.
This year's bulletin will have a slightly different format, which has been brought about due to the loss of my statistical records going back to 2002. I'd used the enforced break caused by the Foot & Mouth disease of 2001 which stopped the Cheltenham Festival going ahead to form a natural "line in the sand" for my trend analysis. So, what I'm doing this year is adding a 3rd-part to the Bulletin. Previously, I'd produced a general overview of the Festival and what to look for; then I'd put together a race-by-race assessment of trends and personal notes. This year, the overview will remain but the race-by-race assessments will be briefer. To compensate, I'm introducing a final section "The Essays" which will be a more in-depth look at some of the races in which I think there can be found an advantage for the informed punter.

The Bulletin in 2013 was a 12,000 word document and it is likely that this years Bulletin will be closer to 15,000 words. As such, I'm hoping on improving on last years performance which produced a 12pt return on stakes of 6pts; that a "return-on-investment" of 100%. As per last year, those blog readers who have already donated at least £10 since 30th September 2013 will automatically receive a pdf version of the Bulletin when it's ready.