Musselburgh on the Flat (Monday)

The 2019 Flat season is kicked off tomorrow at Musselburgh for Dodlands Steading, where our sprint handicapper Princess Apollo takes her chance.

It's fair to say her form has been fairly modest so far, but we felt she was starting to show a bit towards the tail end of last year. She's a stuffy sort, so we fully expect her to need her first couple of runs but, well, you've got to start somewhere.

Princess Apollo runs in the 2.30, a 5f handicap with Rowan Scott in the saddle.

Good luck to Steve Chamberlain and his chums, on what promises to be a warm day the the Lothian seaside track.

Hexham report

A fourth and a fifth place from our two outings yesterday at Hexham may not appear to offer any encouragement to the yard. But, on the contrary when the performances are put into context, as both horses were making their debuts in their specific sphere.

Danced Every Dance was having her first race over hurdles and, despite several less than fluent jumps, ran a nice race to collect 4th place prize money. The first two home were relatively experienced hurdlers and this was a true run race which saw our Oscar mare keeping on gamely in the home straight.
She'll be suited by a sterner test in time but gave connections a fair glimpse of what she can achieve once sent handicapping.

Beforehand, we thought the bumper on the card looked a good event for the time of year. The winner franked the form of her 5th of 20 in the Grade 2 Mares race at Aintree a month ago, and there were some promising sorts on pedigree / form too.
So, we're quietly boosted with the 5th place finish of Bonny Houxty. She raced keenly, tracking the leaders, until the bottom of the hill 3f from home and just couldn't find the legs to quicken with the inevitable injection of pace. But she stuck well to her task all the way to the line.
She'll be aimed at a novice hurdle in the next few weeks.