Desert Flame had a jumpout over 1200m on Monday. Her rider is in the pink colours in the video above. We asked her rider and the rider of our other horse, California August, to ride them out and give them a good hit out.

Desert Flame was quick out of the gates and travelled well to the turn but she faded in the straight. We would have expected her to keep up with our other runner who won the heat. Desert Flame was making a lot of noise in her breathing when she went past the finish line. We already have a tongue tie on her so we had the vet scope her this afternoon to check her throat and airways. They are in perfect condition. Since there is no structural problem, we are going to try working her harder to really get her lungs pumping at trackwork more often and see if it is just a fitness issue since she is such a big girl.