Left-to-right: Shanbally Rose, Wild Polly, Here Comes The Man and Aazza
THREE runners this Saturday all at Carlisle after we decided to withdraw Here Comes the Man at Haydock due to the ground not being soft enough. We’re keen to get him racing again after a break, but felt it’s better waiting for other targets when conditions will be more in his favour.
SHANBALLY ROSE (2.30) is first up and she’s returning from a small holiday, having last run at Musselburgh on January 1. Her best form is at the Edinburgh track and Perth, with flat, right-handed courses allowing her to flourish in the past. Carlisle certainly isn’t like either of those, so we’ll have to see how she gets on here. After almost 100 days off, this spin will do her good and set her up nicely for targets over the next few months.
AAZZA (4.15) returns to action shouldering a much higher weight than when winning at Doncaster in January. The quicker ground went against her last time at Newcastle where she just couldn’t reel in the leaders, so having a bit more cut here should help. Dylan Johnston takes off 7lbs and gets on well with her so hopefully she can be competitive in this higher grade.
WILD POLLY (4.50) looked like she could have been a star for the yard a few years ago when placed in a nice novice hurdle at Doncaster then winning at Ayr. Sadly, injury kept her off the track for the best part of a year and we’ve been feeling our way back slowly with her since.
We tried her over 3 miles at Ayr last time out and she faded out of things, but there was still plenty of promise in her run. Stepping back in trip here should let her be seen to better effect and although she’s nine, which is late to go chasing, she ran in a couple of points - winning one - before she joined us. She’s schooled well and is on a nice mark to kick off her career over fences, so hopefully the Borders Racing Club will have a bit of fun with her now.