Baby in Challenger Mares final at Haydock today

There has been some fine new initiatives over the past couple of seasons introduced by those good people at the BHA. Two that stand out for 'mid-tier' horses are The Northern Lights series with finals at Carlisle in December and The Challenger series where Haydock hosts the finals today.

And to explain a bit more.....here's how the Jockey Club promote today's events at Haydock:
The Challenger Series will comprise six separate Series that allow horses rated up to 135 to qualify through a total of 87 races for a finals day at The Jockey Club’s Haydock Park Racecourse on Easter Saturday.
The Finals Day will carry prize money of around £300,000 in total. The six Series and corresponding £50,000 finals are:
    • 3m Handicap Chase Series
    • 2m 3f Handicap Chase Series
    • 2m Handicap Hurdle Series
    • 3m Handicap Hurdle Series
    • 2m 3f Mares’ Handicap Hurdle Series
    • 2m 6f Mares’ Handicap Chase Series
There are 15 Qualifiers for each Series (Mares' Chase has 12), which will be a combination of Class 3 and Class 4 handicaps run at 34 different racecourses throughout the country starting mid-October. Horses qualify for the Final by finishing in the first eight places in a Series Qualifier.

Baby Ticker runs in the 3.50 - the 2m 3f mares handicap hurdle and as you'd expect, it is a hot event resembling a Festival handicap in the profile of the type of horse needed to win. That is, progressive, down in grade, on form, acts on ground.
With virtually all racing for the last 4 months having been run on soft - heavy, the good to soft today will have form students throwing the formbook out the window. And while we like to dabble pre-race in identifying 3 or 4 likely sorts, it seems a fruitless exercise here as all have a chance.
However, Harry Fry's Lamanver Odyssey does fit the 'winner' profile listed above, as does Longsdon's Castafiore - oh darn, we've gone and done it anyway......

A big step up in grade for Baby Ticker into this competitive Class 2 event, but nothing ventured nothing gained and we'll see how she copes. Callum comes in for the ride for his grandfather Chuck, and best of luck to all.

For stay at home Saturday viewers, the excellent ITV4 cover 3 of the finals, but sadly not the 3.50 so it'll be over to RacingUK for that one. Although about 30 minutes after the race has been run, lock into the Jockey Club website for race replay here.

Baby Ticker (on the left, Murray) leads the string up a recent gallop