Ayr and Bangor

AFTER a short hop across country to Kelso on Saturday, the PRR horsebox is hitting the road to Ayr and Bangor over the next two days.

First up is UNCLE MAC (2.20), who’s our sole runner at Ayr on Monday. He’s a nice enough horse who’s clearly had his problems along the way, having started out with Ben Pauling and then made his way here to Hazelrigg with Rose. He was pulled up over fences on his return at Hexham a couple of weeks ago on his first start for us.

We’re just trying to get to the bottom of him and find out what’s there under the bonnet, so we’re bringing him back over hurdles here and going up in trip. Ed Austin rides. Strangely, the horse who won that Hexham chase, Caldwell, is one of his opponents back over timber here. It’s hard to see how we can reverse the form, even with so many imponderables in play. But hopefully Mac will show us a bit more and give us something to work with going forwards.

A quick turnaround on Monday night will see AAZZA head off bright and early to get to Bangor for the conditional jockeys’ race that opens their card at 12.50. She was a 20-length winner of a 19-runner handicap hurdle over a similar trip of 3m at Doncaster in January last year, but she’s spent the last 20-odd months paying for that.

The handicapper has dropped her a further 3lb for her final run for Rose at Kelso in May, yet she’s still 3lb above the mark she won off. This will be her first run for us, so it’s a bit of a fact-finding mission. It looks quite a competitive race of its type featuring a few improving sorts, plus she’s also conceding match fitness to a few of her 10 rivals. On the flipside, she’s been working nicely at home, gets in here off bottom weight and will like the better ground. Ed also rides.

Cheers,

Paul