The team at Weatherbys are delighted to be sponsoring three of Tuesday's seven races, starting with the opening contest, the Weatherbys e-passport Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.
Just four go to post for this 2m event, with two of the quartet having finished runner-up on their most recent starts. Auditoria is the most experienced hurdler in the field and finished second over course-and-distance last month, although this looks a stronger race. Miss Mulligan was rated 79 on the Flat and won twice from 15 starts, and made an encouraging start over hurdles, when runner-up to Blue Bikini at Plumpton. A little too keen, she would hold strong claims if relaxing a little more.
Pollypocket finished third in a good bumper at Southwell on debut in May (runner-up won recently over hurdles) and got off the mark at the same track during the summer. She makes her debut over hurdles for trainer Alex Hales, whilst Terresita makes her racecourse debut for Lucy Wadham and Bryony Frost.
Wadham and Frost also team up in the weatherbysnhstallions.co.uk Handicap Chase, with Little Light, who is one of three who share top-weight. The seven-year-old has never quite lived up to the promise she showed in a couple of Irish Point-to-Points and this is her second start on the back of a wind-operation.
Only six take their chance in this 0-100 event, with the pick of them The Some Dance Kid and Sabbathical. The former represents the in-form yard of Donald McCain and is another to have recently undergone wind surgery. He is another who looked highly promising in the early part of his career (winner of three novice hurdles) and remains lightly-raced as a chaser. Evan Williams’ Sabbathical arrives here on the back of a solid recent run, when runner-up at Ffos Las just nine days ago. A reproduction of that effort should see him go close, although he would prefer the ground to be a little softer.
The penultimate race on the card is the Weatherbys Hamilton Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase, in which the weights are headed by course winner Xcitations, for trainer Pam Sly. A smooth winner of a handicap hurdle at this track in March, he made his debut over fences at Huntingdon last month, where he finished runner-up behind the 153-rated hurdler, Millers Bank. At his best on decent ground, he looks sure to go well and connections enjoyed a winner at Wetherby over the weekend with Fransham.
Only five take their chance in this race, but it is difficult to rule any of them out with any real conviction. Major Dundee makes his chasing debut here and was a good-ground novice hurdle winner at Chepstow in March, whilst The Golden Rebel finished behind No Comment at Worcester in September. Philip Hobbs’ 10-year-old finally got off the mark at Huntingdon recently (on his 13th chase start) and boasts considerably more experience than the rest of this field. However, it is Quoi de Neuf who is feared most and can give Xcitations most to think about. A smart hurdler (4th in the Greatwood just two years ago), he ran well in a novices’ handicap chase at Aintree this time last year, when splitting Canelo (winner of the Rowland Meyrick) and Time To Get Up (winner of the Midlands National).