Wetherby Saturday with a couple of handicap hurdlers

Two of our handicap hurdlers head down the A1 to Wetherby to contest races at 1.57 and 2.32 with the advance going of soft (heavy places). Nights In Venice and Eternally Yours respectively.
These two are siblings out of Well Disguised and were bred by Al Duncan (formerly a big owner from Edinburgh but we don't talk much about him these days.....).
Both run in the stable's colours with Craig Nichol in the saddle. Of the two Nights In Venice would look to have the best chance of a win/place. Anyway, here's a bit more about each race.

Tackling 3 miles for the first time this season, Nights In Venice faces 8 opponents in the 1.57, a novices handicap hurdle. He's been a slow burner over the last couple of seasons with us, and he'll strip fitter for his recent run at Kelso. We've toyed with the idea of going novice chasing with this 7yr old son of Midnight Legend but we'll see how he gets on here.

Obvious horse that catches the eye, and favourite is George Bewley's top-weight Hoganville. He's been a massively progressive hurdler this season since joining George and completed a hat-trick in fairly comfortable fashion at Kelso last time over 3m 2f. Hard to beat.

At the other end of the scale, Irish Point winner (on soft/heavy) Hattons Gardens is having his first run in a handicap and is upped in trip here. He looks more than likely to be better than his initial assessment of OR100 and to be challenging over the last two in this race.
Of the others, Heritier De Sivola won over 2m 7f at Kelso last month but wasn't able to make any impression over today's course and distance 3 weeks later and looks held on that form.

Nights In Venice

The consistent Eternally Yours runs in the handicap hurdle at 2.32pm over just short of 2m 4f. She does run well on soft/heavy ground but this is a very competitive affair as befits a Class 3 0-140 event on a Saturday. She fell at the final flight when still holding a chance last time and we hope the mare runs well as she's in fine health at home although probably needing a personal best to win.

The lightly raced, progressive Iroko looks to be the one to beat. A mark of OR128 doesn't look enough to halt his progress and this 5yr old looks to be a smart hurdler in the making.
Rafferty's Return is in fine form but Rebecca's other runner Hasty Brook may give Iroko most to do. He's been chasing so this is his first handicap hurdle, acts on heavy and looks capable of some improvement off his mark of OR123.

Eternally Yours (Shay) in the foreground