Ayr Review - a victory for Eternally Yours ....and not before time

Well, its been a long time between drinks!

Nearly 4 years, which made victory taste all the sweeter for Eternally Yours who won the closing Mares' handicap hurdle at Ayr yesterday over 2½ miles. The pace was modest and this led to all 5 runners still closely matched in the run to the last.
Our mare was actually the trailer of the field at this point but all were full of running. Over the last and Charm Offensive (who beat Eternally Yours by a couple of lengths over C&D in March) quickened clear but young Theo Gillard conjured up a burst of pace from Eternally Yours in the last 100 yds to get up on the line to win by a neck. Arguably, his 3lb claim made the difference here.

In the 2018-19 season on her second ever race over hurdles, off a mark of OR110, Callum rode Eternally Yours to finish second beaten a neck in this same race - there were 12 runners that day (where have they all gone?). Raised 6lb for that effort, she won next time in December '18 but, despite some very creditable performances, hasn't managed to get her nose in front since. It has prayed heavily on our minds..............

Our first of the season but this meant so much more than that to the yard as Eternally Yours is a lovely mare and has been a delight to train. Surely the handicapper won't be too harsh.................

The day started in low key fashion fro the yard as novice hurdler Eden Mill (Craig Nichol) was in rear most of the way in the 2 mile novice hurdle, unable to mount a challenge once the pace was picked up by the winner Fortescue Wood. This left Eden Mill in rear but it did look as if his hurdling had improved.
Off for 22 months and on hurdles debut but returning to the best of his bumper form which saw him beat Ahoy Senor, Fortescue Wood looks a useful sort.

Hopefully Eden Mill has done enough to qualify for a handicap mark as he does need to drop in class to allow him to be a bit competitive.

The opportunity was taken to give Stolen Money his chasing debut over 2½ miles in what turned out to be a better than average novices' handicap chase. Craig kept him wide to give him an easy look at his fences but he blundered badly at the very 2nd fence, an open ditch. He seemed to get a better grip of things heading out for the second circuit but he was caught for toe at the end of the back straight. He kept on tough, albeit well adrift of the main contenders.
Good to see several Scottish trained runners fill the places here and Coltherd's winner Grand Voyage and Ewart's Lord Roco (runner up on chase debut) look very promising chasing types.

It would appear that 3 miles (and testing ground) are a minimum for Stolen Money but we're not too despondent about his 20 length defeat here and hope this run  provides a good foundation for his novice chasing season.

Just about the nicest photo we have : Eternally Yours and Laura