Ayr runner tomorrow (Friday)

Class 4 handicap hurdle (heavy) 2m 4½f

It was never the plan to give Tomahawk Wood a 50 odd day break after his victory over course and distance in mid January, but those dual banes of trainer's lives - issues and niggles - intervened. The Courteous gelding has had a relatively uninterrupted fortnight though, and recent work has been pleasing, so we head across country to the Ayrshire course with reasonably high hopes of a prominent display.

Top weight Christmas in USA catches the eye having been rated OR127 less than 12 months ago, and is in here on OR105. Just a 5 yr old, Nick Alexander will be hoping he shows his form in France where he was trained by Guillame Macaire to be placed several times over jumps.
Simmply Sam won here on heavy ground in January, and although a couple of pounds higher than his winning mark, would be a contender.
As is the norm in such races, the remainder contain a fair few horses who have shown their best form in years gone by although the 11 yr old Andhaar has been very consistent lately, but this has been on a sound surface.

Snapping Turtle (Pinky)

Snapping Turtle 6th yesterday

The pace of yesterday's staying handicap hurdle at Catterick was a reasonable one, on holding ground, and Callum was content to sit behind a wall of 4 horses during the first circuit. However, Snapping Turtle just wasn't able to quicken when the hold up horses came through down the back straight for the second time, and could only plug on into 6th place in the end.