THE Eider is a race we love, a real local highlight of the season, and having won it in 2016 with Rocking Blues we would love to be successful again this weekend. RATH AN IUIR (3.15), leading Trooper Turnbull in the video, is our runner this year and we’re delighted to have him back competing in nice races again.
Rathy was our most exciting horse back in 2020, winning back-to-back at Carlisle, beating some nice horses who have gone on to do really well since, but sadly he was off injured for a long time after a freakish slip on the path walking back to the yard one morning. Thankfully we got him back on the track at Ayr in early January and while he finished last of five that day, he definitely needed the run and it was all about getting him going again. I had hoped to give him another spin somewhere before this weekend but we discovered he had ulcers which have now been successfully treated - although with all the good ground everywhere a few weeks back he wouldn’t have run anyway.
The ground will be a slight worry here because he really loves it softer, but that will be the case for most of them in this race. We think he’ll love the stamina test of 4m1f, he went to Newcastle a few weeks ago for a bit of work and is in grand order. He’s done plenty at home and is unexposed, so he could run a big race.
It’s exciting to have a runner in the race again and if we can get a good tune out of Rathy we’ll be delighted.
MONFASS (5.00), above, is our other runner on the card. He’s come tumbling down in the weights and Dylan Johnson will take off another seven pounds, so he’s on a really competitive mark. Hopefully he’ll bounce back to his old form and if he does he could be bang there.