Go North Weekend – 8 or 9 runners at Musselburgh / Kelso / Carlisle

A glorious early spring day; the sun shining, horses looking well, nature slowly emerging from winter.  Racecourses will be drying fast and Musselburgh, Kelso & Carlisle have resorted to watering to try to keep the ground at good to soft for the North’s “mini festival” this weekend.  Spread across three days at three tracks it features the eight “Go North” Finals, the £100k Herring Queen Final and a host of other competitive races.  The ground is described currently as good to soft at all the tracks but with longer sunny days and temperatures of 17 degrees forecast tomorrow it is no surprise they are watering to maintain.

We have five declarations for Musselburgh tomorrow starting with Anamanda in the 3m novice hurdle at 14.50.  She is stepping right back up in trip and wearing a hood having failed to really run her races over shorter recently.  Any semblance of the form she showed on this card last year would see her go very close but we need her to bounce back – 7 run and Bruce rides.

Ginger Mail ran much better at Ayr last time and remains well treated if he can build on that in the 2m Go North Sea Pigeon Hurdle at 15.22; a very competitive race as one would expect so he’s wearing a visor and can hopefully run with credit on these terms – 15 run and Bruce rides.

We run The G Wizard in the Go North Night Nurse Novice Final at 15.55; he has been in great form this season and has been placed on all his starts, he appeared not to handle the very testing ground at Musselburgh last time and has run his best races over this course and distance so should be competitive in a field of progressive young horses.  11 run and Bruce rides, he has also been declared for the WFA Novice at Kelso on Saturday in case we deem the ground too quick for him tomorrow.

Better be Definite runs in the Go North Brindisi Breeze 3m final at 16.30;  he didn’t really appear to let himself down on the good ground at Newcastle last time and quickly became tailed off.  If that was the case then he will struggle tomorrow, however if he can keep tabs on them in what will be a strongly run race then his stamina might come into play as ideally he’d prefer a much stiffer test – 15 run and Bruce rides.

Finally we run Just an Artist in the Mares Hurdle at 17.00; her last start can be ignored and she is beginning to look well treated on her Perth win, so if she can run the sort of race she did on her penultimate start at Carlisle then she could go very well – 7 run and Bruce rides.

On to Kelso on Saturday where we are doubly represented in the Go North Cab on Target Final at 13.30 with Eloi du Puy (Bruce) and Coconut Splash (Kit).  Both go into the race in excellent form and whilst both would prefer a softer surface they should be OK if the watering has done its job.  Eloi is a course and distance specialist who won last time out, he is 3lb above his last winning mark so a career best will be required if he is to make the frame.

Coconut was a very close 2nd last time out and was put up 6lb for the privilege but he remains very well treated on his form as a younger horse.  16 run.

If The G Wizard defects from Musselburgh he would have a good chance on paper in the 15.48 based on his course and distance form back in November – 9 run.

Finally on Saturday Oor Wish runs in the bumper at 16.23; she ran well on debut but was then a bit disappointing last time at Ayr in a strangely run race on very deep ground.  Hopefully she will fare better on this sounder surface – 8 run and Bruce rides.

Orkney Blue is our only possible runner at Carlisle on Sunday; we will see how the race shapes up at declarations time before committing or giving him a little longer after his Ayr run.

I am disappointed not to be able to give Dom any rides this weekend with his intended mounts being eliminated or not declared, tough finding opportunities sometimes, he has been riding very well and all being well we have some nice rides in the pipeline for him.

At Newcastle last weekend Suspected took a nice step forward to finish 6th of 15, L’Appel travelled well but stopped quickly, he has subsequently had a minor wind operation.