Shades of Midnight heads to Ayr tomorrow

I'm sure the BHA handicapper for Northern staying hurdlers will be looking in on the 4.40 at Ayr tomorrow with just about as much interest as ourselves. Shades of Midnight will be looking to cope with a 13lb rise in the handicap against 7 opponents who are a mixture of seasoned campaigners and progressive hurdlers.

Not that exposed horses don't win races, but we think the strongest challenges will come from a couple of the younger horses in the field - Nicky R's Western Rules and John Quinn's Kashmir Peak (although that gelding does have bags of experience). Both have shown their best form to date over 2 miles, but Western Rules in particular would appear to be suited by tomorrow's trip of 2m 5f.

A huge hike of 13lb would have to be a worry, but Shady will be out doing his best as always, so here's hoping. His loyal band of owners will be sure to enjoy a Saturday at the races!

Shades of Midnight and a couple of friends at morning exercise

Recent results....

...Shady apart, have not been as positive as we would have hoped.

Baby Ticker is gaining valuable experience in novice hurdles, and we hope she'll jump better on a sounder surface, but meantime she can't really be competitive and will need one more hurdle race to complete before she attains a handicap mark. Both Hartforth and Snapping Turtle were pulled up in their respective recent races at Ayr and Sedgefield last week.

We're having Hartforth checked over fully as he has been very consistent for the yard but was never travelling at any stage of his Ayr race.

Much the same can be said about Snapping Turtle, and we'll monitor him closely over the next few weeks at the yard. 

Snapping Turtle and the chesnut Tomahawk Wood