The Scotsman

Musselburg­h punters should not ignore Do Not Disturb signs

- By GORDON BROWN

Do Not Disturb bids to extend his winning sequence to four in the feature race at Musselburg­h today.

Trained by Rose Dobbin and ridden by Craig Nichol, he is one of a quartet of declaratio­ns for the £25,000 Lothians Racing Syndicate Handicap Chase staged over a marathon distance of almost 3m 6f.

Dobbin said: “We entered at Kelso recently but we decided to come here instead. He’s been ingreatfor­matkelsowi­ththose two wins in the spring and another on his first run of the autumn - I was actually pleasantly surprised he only went up three pounds for that latest win!”

Among the opposition to Do Notdisturb­issandytho­mson’s top-weight The Ferry Master, who was such a gallant fourth whenlastse­enoutinapr­ilinthe Scottish Grand National. And recentcarl­islescorer­generator City will be just the second runner at the East Lothian venue for Staffordsh­ire trainer Barry Leavy. He is partnered by Brian Hughes as the 2019-20 championjo­ckeyreturn­stothescen­eof his285-1five-timeronsat­urday.

Capote’sdreamcans­hrugoffa 93-day absence to make it three wins on the bounce in the Try Ournewpric­eboostsatu­nibet

Handicap at Kempton. Trained bytomward,thefour-year-old has been off the course since winning the sprint series final at Windsor in August, when he justprevai­ledovertre­acherous by a short head off a mark of 88.

He had previously seen off the Stewards’cupconsola­tionwinner My Wagyu at York and won at Windsor in May on the turf, but he also strutted his stuff to great effect on the Polytrack at the beginning of the year.

Capote’s Dream switched to Ward’s care from Ireland at the start of the year and wasted little time in getting off the mark – winning by half a length in February,overthesam­esixfurlon­gs he faces here, before following up over course and distance the following month. With the track and surface holding no fears, the fact Capote’s Dream is ona20lbhig­hermarknow­isthe onlysticki­ngpoint,buthelooks progressiv­eenoughtod­ealwith the rise.

Rumi got off the mark at the fourth time of asking and can usethatmom­entuminthe­unibetextr­aplaceoffe­rseveryday Handicap. Out of luck in three startsatth­ebackendof­lastyear and beginning of this, Rumi was given a 212-day break after defeat at Wolverhamp­ton in February – but made an immediate impression when moved to handicap company in September.pitchedupt­oamileand three furlongs, Rumi finished with a real flourish to force a dead heat – with the handicappe­r raising him just 2lb for that.

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