Across country to Ayr on Tuesday

Advance going description at Ayr on Tuesday is good to soft. It's been an unusually dry spell these last 2 or 3 weeks and racecourses up and down the country are trying extremely hard to produce safe jumping ground. Friday's card at Fakenham has already been abandoned with the going described as hard. Quick mental check.......yes, it is the first half of February. Better news is that there looks to be around 10 days of rain to come.

Meantime, we travel across to Ayr with a couple of horses looking to put slightly below par performances last time behind them.

First up for our yard is Nights In Venice (Henry Brooke) in the extended 3 mile handicap hurdle at 3.55 pm, a Class 4 event. There are three of today's opponents who come into this race in fine form. Lucinda's top weight Apple Away acts on good ground, stays 3 mile, has a progressive profile and this race represents a drop in class. She looks the one to beat.
But George Bewley's Hoganfield is reportedly fancied to bounce back to the form which saw him complete a hat-trick of victories earlier in the season. He wasn't quite as good when 3rd at Kelso a month back but wont be far away in this race.
The other in form horse is Jet Legs who chased home multiple winner The Imposter at Wetherby a couple of weeks ago. Raised 3lb for that performance but he should still be competitive.

Most of the others, like Nights In Venice, have a wee bit to prove after sub par recent efforts but there are a couple of older horses who take a drop in class to compete here. Niceandeasy has been chasing and has dropped to a nice hurdles handicap mark but the possible blot in the handicap is Ewan's Leostar. Off for 18 months prior to a couple of chase outings this season, he caught the eye when 7th in a Class 3 handicap hurdle at Kelso in December on unfavourable ground. A fair hurdler, he acts on a sound surface and, er, any market move should be noted.

Good luck to Henry and connections.

Nights In Venice (Laura, on the right) working with Both Barrels (Rhae)

Henry Brooke is also in the saddle for our handicap chaser Maid of Houxty in the Class 5 3 mile chase at 4.30pm. She stays 3 miles well but has shown her best form with a bit of cut in the ground, so we'll see how she fares here.

The best form - even in handicap terms - has been shown by the top three on the card. Lucinda's Prince Dundee stays forever but is another who may have preferred more testing conditions, as does Micky Mammond's Mister Bells for whom the booking of Brian Hughes catches the eye. He is taking a massive class reduction from recent races in Britain & Ireland (ex Paul Nolan) and has been dropped several pounds in the weights too. He has a big chance here.

The lightly raced Gentleman De Mal has promised to be a better chaser than his hurdles form to date has shown. Craig rides this one for Rose and he could give Mister Bells most to do. But that's not to ignore Laura Morgan's chase debutant Cuddly Dudley. From a family full of very useful jumpers, this is just this 6 yr old's 5th race. His trainer does well with these types of profiles over fences and he could go well off a mark of OR100.

Just a 0-105 but a fascinating race all the same.
Good luck to Henry, again, and owner breeders Bill & Carol Aitchison. Wrap up well and enjoy the day.

Maid of Houxty (Laura, nearside)