Convict will take no prisoners

RACING: Marquand saddles up in bid for Hamilton Stakes glory

Tom Marquand makes his first appearance at Hamilton Park today to ride CONVICT in the £35,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Glasgow Stakes.

The globe-trotting jockey’s partner Hollie Doyle is also in action as she has been booked for the mount on Tritonic in the 15th year of the prestigious 1m 3f Listed event, which will be staged behind closed doors at the Lanarkshire track.

Marquand spent part of the winter in Australia where he gained his breakthrough Group 1 success while Doyle has won on two of her previous three rides at Hamilton Park.

Convict, trained in Newmarket by William Haggas, is equipped with cheekpieces after an unplaced effort at Royal Ascot.

TRITONIC, a raider from Alan King’s Wiltshire stable, was a narrow runner-up at last month’s royal fixture and is the second highest rated horse in the race off a BHA mark of 99.

Mark Johnston, a five-time winning trainer, most recently in 2013 with Maputo, is double-handed courtesy of SUBJECTIVIST – the top-rated runner on 103 – and TULIP FIELDS with the line-up completed by Kevin Ryan’s Arrow Of Gold.

The last-named carries the same colours as Postponed (2014), partnered by Arrow Of Gold’s jockey Andrea Atzeni, and Defoe (2017) who both went on to achieve Group 1 victories.

Last year’s hero AIR RAID heads the weights for the other feature race, the Heineken UK Scottish Stewards’ Cup over 6f.

Jedd O’Keeffe’s Middleham trained gelding is unbeaten in three previous visits to Hamilton Park.

Jim Goldie and borders trainer Katie Scott fly the flag for Scotland by saddling CALL ME GINGER and Al Qahwa respectively.

Meanwhile EYE OF HEAVEN was a disappointment at Royal Ascot, but his supporters can regain some of their losses if they keep the faith in the National Stakes at Sandown.

MAGIC J is becoming a bit frustrating to follow with four placed efforts in his last four runs, but his time can come in the Datchet Handicap.

He was beaten half a length in second at Wolverhampton last time.