Lovely mild spring day, showers about.  A big lump in my throat this morning as we bade farewell to one of the best; Elvis Mail moved on to his new home after nearly nine years at Kinneston.  He’s been an absolute favourite since the first day I saw him at a hot and sunny Arqana in July 2017.  Always cheeky, always full of fun, and hugely talented amassing just under £200k of prize money by winning 10 of his 39 races and being placed in a further 17.  So many special days up and down the country – I feel blessed to have known him and had the privilige of training him.  He’s gone to a great home and with luck his winning days aren’t over, albeit not on the racecourse – I will be following him closely.

Farewell my friend

On to Ayr tomorrow for the first day of the Scottish Grand National Festival – highly competitive racing as one would expect and we have four declared runners.  Ground is still mostly soft and very much hope overnight showers materialise to keep it that way as it can dry up very quickly at this time of year.  We are double handed in the first race, the two mile handicap hurdle at 13.45; Ginger Mail (Bruce) has slipped down to a very appealing mark, his penultimate run here reads well and he is 4lb lower tomorrow having won off 12lb higher here just over a year ago.  Big question is can he find a semblance of his old form or is age catching up?  Hopefully he can and I would ignore his last run at Musselburgh.

Ginger Mail

Lance les Des (Sean) won over course and distance last time out and has a nicely progressive profile, whether he is quite ready for the hurly burly of a “Festival” type handicap I’m not sure but we certainly expect him to rate higher in time.  The more rain the better for him.  15 run and to be honest you would give most a chance, let’s just hope our two produce their A game, in which case I am sure they will be competitive.

Lance Les Des

Ballyfort runs in the two mile novice chase at 14.20; a course and distance winner earlier in the season he should appreciate a return to a sounder surface and I”d expect the race to be run to suit in the form of a strong pace that he can settle in behind.  It’s a tough looking race for him but if it all pans out he could run well – Bruce rides and 9 run.

Ballyfort

Finally Dubai Days makes a quick reappearance in the Hillhouse Quarry Handicap Chase at 15.30.  As a 12yo he will probably be the outsider of the field but he has won at this Meeting twice in the past and was 2nd in this race off a 2lb higher mark three years ago.  He also won over course and distance on his penultimate start and since then ran well to be 6th of 17 in the £100k Veterans Final at Haydock.  That was only 13 days ago but I think the bigger obstacle to overcome is that he is handicapped to the hilt despite his age, that is a credit to him (and the team here) in many ways but it will make winning very difficult.  He doesn’t know that and he has a nice light weight against what is admittedly very strong opposition – can hopefully outrun his odds.  Bruce rides and 9 run.

Dubai Days

All our runners tomorrow are course and distance winners (three this season) and all will go off at double figure odds; that probably reflects their chances but I’m really looking forward to them running and I love playing at home against the top yards!  For anyone going to Ayr tomorrow beware the protesting farmers who are threatening to block the motorways as a protest against the price of diesel.  The latter affects us all and I’m not sure they will gain much public sympathy by forcing us to sit in traffic jams or take costly diversions, especially as many of us also happen to be farmers!

Elvis Mail the day we bought him, I think we have been turning grey in parallel since then!

 

And at his new home…