Off to Ayr with a couple of runners tomorrow

Soft ground tomorrow at Ayr, 8 races and large-ish fields with several big yards from both sides of the Irish Sea introducing hurdling and bumper newcomers.

First up for us is Big Bad Dream who makes his hurdling debut in Div 2 of the 2m 4½f Maiden Hurdle at 1.10.

A winner in a maiden always catches the eye, and Jennie Candlish runs her dual flat scorer (OR91 at best) Al Destoor, who has already shown himself to be a fair hurdler too with several placed efforts, and sets a good mark in this race. Acts on soft.
McCain's Lord Springfield won on Irish Pointing debut for James Fahey in April '18, jumping aggressively. He is the type to be fancied to win over hurdles before developing into a useful chaser. He was subsequently acquired for 40 odd grand in April.
Three fellow Scottish runners - Elvis Mail, Blaydon and Fully Booked - all look as if they will improve for time and experience, while Liam Lennon's Bobbie the Dazzler ran her best race here last time when belying the odds to run a close third to a couple of fair sorts.

Rose's Vintage Glen has a stout jumping pedigree and will surely progress in this sphere throughout the season.
All of which leaves Ellison's forgotten horse Sam's Adventure.  Off the course for the best part of 2 years, this hurdling debutant showed top class bumper form, acts on soft, from a jumping family and will probably start as favourite.

Phew! Where does that leave us.......
Well, Big Bad Dream showed fair bumper form himself, acts on soft and has schooled well. But Rome wasn't built in a day, so we'd expect him to come on for the run a good bit in terms of experience and fitness. A promising gelding but with 3 or 4 of his opponents providing a stiff test, we'd be happy with a safe round.

 
Big Bad Dream (foreground) with Callum

Just over an hour later Eternally Yours lines up in the 2m 4f Northern Lights Mares Series Qualifier - a handicap hurdle.

Lesson learnt from Monday, as the Crawford Bros. run their duo who competed in Baby Ticker's Carlisle race. Hidden Dilemma (vastly improved form to win) and Victoria Says (third) have stayed over to run here thereby qualifying for the Series final in December. If they have recovered, both should go well.
And several others in the race are using this final qualifier to have their second run and thus be eligible for the final.

The field is comprised of an intriguing mixture of summer racers (hurdles and flat) and young, promising jumpers making their handicap debut.
Of the former category, Gordon Elliott's Isle of Destroy stands out - dropped in class, progressive - his recent runs have been on a sound surface. And there's the best of the unexposed types - Schiaparannie, Birch Vale and Off The Hook.

Eternally Yours has schooled well in the last week, but she is a very inexperienced handicap hurdler. She won a novice at Newcastle on her sole run over timber in April, a race in which has been significant in that none of the subsequent runners have shown a jot.
Sounds a bit strange but we'd be hoping for a nice jumping round and to gain racing experience, and for the Sulamani mare to progress during the season.

Eternally Yours (Georgina)

Baby Ticker opens her season at Carlisle yesterday

And well.........she should come on from the run.

A November winner for Dodlands Steading is only slightly less rare than hen's teeth, so it's not a month specifically targeted by the yard for turning out winners. Guess that's just the way we train, and there's not been much change this year.......

Baby Ticker was never really in touch with the principles at Carlisle yesterday, but did stick on and was only beaten ½ length for third over a trip (~2 miles) short of her best. She finished 5th.
This does qualify the mare for the Northern Lights Mares Series final at Carlisle in early December, which is over 2½ miles on the more galloping outer hurdles track at the venue.

Baby Ticker (Kingy) on the right