Sunday best could deliver more clues Preview
Leading owner among those set for Ayr journey
Just 17 days after landing a double at Ayr’s New Year Raceday on January 2 top owner Max McNeill could head back to the track in search of more winners on Sunday.
Max, whose horses run in his McNeill family colours, has the Gordon Elliott trained Escaria Ten entered in the The Racing TV Free For A Month Novices’ Hurdle over three miles and Another Emotion, a horse he co- owns with Terry Warner and is trained by Warren Greatrex, pencilled in for the 3m 2f The Only 1000 Racing TV Free Trials Available Handicap Chase.
The former won a Maiden Hurdle at Cork on January 4 and went into a few notebooks that day and if lining up at Ayr could be mighty hard to beat.
Another Emotion has won a hurdle race and ran second in a novices’ chase at Sedgefield in November and is relatively lightly raced from a top stable.
The fact M axis considering returning to Ayr so soon after his double success earlier in the month shows he rates the course and has instructed his trainers to run his horses there.
Incidentally the McNeills are playing down the prospects of Champagne super over, who won the bumper at Ayr on January 2 in a hack canter, running in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival.
Many shrewdies thought that would be the race for the young horse but Max believes it might to be too much of an ask for such an inexperienced youngster.
Instead he is likely to be found another little race or two before being put away for a novice hurdle campaign next season.
A horse that could be turned out on Sunday just a week after winning at Kelso is the Sandy Thomson- trained
Aloomomo who is part owned by Raymond Anderson Green whose Merigo won the Coral Scottish Grand National in 2010 and 2012.
Connections rate this horse very highly and he is still on a very good handicap mark and should not be missed this weekend.
One from Fergie’s notebook that is also set to run at Ayr is Glinger Flame who will be partnered by Brian Hughes in the Start Your Racing TV Free Trial Now Novices’ Chase.
Nicky Richards had high hopes for this horse but after three hurdle wins on the bounce he disappointed in a novice chase at Newcastle last time out and will be on a recovery mission this weekend.
I won’t be deserting him just yet.