A fine day, cold and bright.  At Newcastle on Tuesday Spectress took a nice step forward as did Atlantic Alfie though the latter still has plenty to find; Lucky Soldier ran and jumped well for a long way though was ultimately a little disappointing, however the race wasn’t run to suit and he maybe wasn’t quite as fit as I thought.  On to Musselburgh’s big weekend, two days of excellent racing for proper prize money and it is going to be highly competitive.  We have five runners across the two days and they are all likely to go off at long odds, hard to see where we might get a result but great to be taking part and keeps the pressure off the trainer!

Our first runner is Platin Moon in the Listed Triumph Hurdle Trial at 1.42 tomorrow, he’s a lovely horse in the making but ran too free last time so we will drop him in to settle this time and hope he can run into the money from the rear, 10 run and Bruce rides.

Platin Moon

Mack the Man runs in the Scottish County Hurdle at 2.17, he’s kicking on a little now but bar his last run has been in excellent form including winning over course and distance last April.  This is a different level of course but he would be well up to it in the past so hopefully he can outrun his odds tomorrow, 12 run and Kit rides.

Mack The Man

The ground is good to soft at the moment, they’ve been watering this week so I hope this doesn’t suggest it could be on the quick side by Sunday, doubt it as Musselburgh have been spot on with their watering in recent times.  We have three runners starting with Wakool in the Pertemps Qualifier at 3pm; he has won twice over course and distance and has run well in the last three renewals of this race off marks of 131, 140 and 139.  On Sunday he runs off 125 and has the assistance of Dom’s 10lb claim so we are hoping for a revival, he’s certainly in great form at home but does he want to do it on the track?  We will find out, tongue tie is off, cheek pieces back on and we will drop him out the back for the first circuit – 12 run.

Wakool

Finally we are doubly represented in the 4.05 with Not in Kansas (Bruce) and Beat the Retreat (Dom).  Both step up in class and are essentially unproven at the trip but have good track form and deserve to take their chances off a low weight. Kansas should have benefitted from a recent wind operation and Beat the Retreat has Dom’s 10lb claim taking his weight to 9st 8lb (well done Dom, no Greggs sausage & bean melt for him this morning!) – 13 run.

Not In Kansas

Beat The Retreat

Our jockeys riding Platin Moon and Wakool will wear black armbands this weekend in honour of Simon Dunning who I am extremely sad to say died on Tuesday afternoon, peacefully whilst watching the racing.  Simon had a share in all Harry Turcan’s horses at Kinneston and was a great supporter and close friend to the yard as well as to me personally.  We had a huge amount of fun together with many winners and lots of good horses; he came to our Owners Lunch each year but didn’t come racing, this meant I had the joy of speaking to him at length on the phone driving to and from the races.  He always had to speak to everyone in the car and catch up with their latest news and somehow we always came off the call feeling better, importantly just as much at the end of a bad day as a good day.  He took a huge amount of pleasure from the yard’s success and from the progress of our jockeys, Lucy in particular, and above anything he was unswervingly loyal to all of us.  I suppose his final winner was Not the Chablis’s point to point win two weeks ago, leased to me but he still took huge pleasure in the fact that he gave Jess her first win.  He will be deeply missed and our sympathies are with his daughter Mariota.

Jet Master – one of Simon’s many horses who gave us all some memorable days

And another in Rossini’s Dancer, winner of 17 races including point-to-points under Kit, Crawford Robertson and Charlotte Dun