Marquand makes Hamilton debut aboard Convict in feature
Tom Marquand makes his first appearance at Hamilton Park today to ride Convict in the £35,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Glasgow Stakes.
The globetrotting jockey’s partner Hollie Doyle is also in action as she has been booked for the mount on Tritonic in the fifteenth year of the prestigious 1m 3f Listed event.
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 yard, was a narrow runner-up at lat month’s royal fixture and is the second highest-rated horse in the race off a BHA mark of 99.
Mark Johnston, the winning trainer in 2013 with Maputo, is double-handed courtesy of Subjectivist 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 Middlehamtrained gelding is unbeaten in three trips to Hamilton.
Another interesting contender is Richard Fahey’s George Bowen who was an impressive winner of this big sprint in 2018.
Jim Goldie and borders trainer Katie Scott fly the flag for Scotland by saddling Call Me Ginger and Al Qahwa respectively.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh firm CHB Medical – one of the world’s biggest suppliers of Certified PPE – has been announced as a new sponsor of Ayr Racecourse.
Monday’s fixture will now be named the CHB Medical #keepingscotlandsaferaceday with all eight races also named after the medical supplies giant. CHB Medical already has strong links with the racing industry having teamed up with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) to create a Back To Racing pack, including face masks, gloves, coveralls, hand sanitiser, infrared thermometers, visors and goggles.
The firm also supplies racecourses, racehorse owners as well as trainers’ yards.
Ayr managing director David Brown said: “We are delighted to welcome CHB Medical as our newest sponsor. It is very fitting that a company who have played an integral role in the return of racing have chosen to support one of our summer race days.”