HAYDOCK – SATURDAY

2:05 G2 The New One Unibet Hurdle

Epatante (Aidan Coleman)

I think for all of us the ground is a bit of a worry but there’s nothing we can do about it and at the moment we just have to take what we can. She isn’t a gigantic mare but has won on soft ground before so you’d like to think she’ll at least get through it and she’s been in good form at home. She’s been ticking over nicely and this is a good opportunity to give her the chance of winning a race after bumping into Constituition Hill all season. To be fair after Newcastle in the Fighting Fifth we knew she was always going to struggle behind him so it’s a case of trying to find the best race to suit all parties. We could have gone for the Relkeel but were lucky to win that with Marie’s Rock and this race fits nicely in the calendar anyway. It would just be lovely to get her head back in front again and give her some confidence. She had a terrific season last year, winning three Grade Ones, so owes us absolutely nothing, but she still retains all her ability and (for her) it’s a shame a certain horse owned by Michael Buckley has come on the scene because she would’ve already won two Grade Ones this season and likely be favourite for the Unibet Champion Hurdle!

We have a few runners on Sunday and, again, the ground is going to play a crucial role but Rathmacknee would appear to have a decent chance in the 12:30 at Lingfield. He’s coming back very quickly after running into the back of a melee in the Lanzarote and was, quite righty, pulled up by Nico after a mile. He’s back against Novices and as long as he handles the going, I would be expecting a good effort from him. Things haven’t gone his way so far but I still think there is plenty of fun to be had.

Hurricane Le Dun is a horse that wants a distance and soft ground, although whether a stiff three miles on heavy is debatable, but we’ll see when he lines up in the Novices’ Hurdle at 1:30.

We’ve had First Street entered up all over the place but he’s finally ended up in the 2m4f Hurdle at 3:30. He was very impressive in the Gerry Fielden and didn’t disgrace himself against Marie’s Rock in the Relkeel. This is slightly calmer waters and he’s a very classy horse so you’d like to think he’d go well, but again, whether heavy is his thing, I’m not so sure. We just have to run these horses.

There’s no significant news concerning Luccia other than the fact that after scoping dirty she is now a lot, lot better so we are now thinking about where to go next. In an ideal world I would liked to have got two more runs into her before Cheltenham but we are starting to run out of time so it might be the case that she goes there having had just one more run over hurdles.