Ayr Saturday

Coral Scottish Grand National

BEATEN by stablemate Win My Wings 12 months ago, the Christian Williams-trained Kitty’s Light landed the latest renewal of the Scottish Grand National to add to his success in the Tote Eider earlier in the year.

Kitty’s Light - sent off 4/1 joint favourite - was again ridden by Jack Tudor, who will be riding as first jockey to David Pipe next season after the retirement of Tom Scudamore.

Kitty’s Light overcame a series of errors to win at Newcastle, but cut out the mistakes on this occasion, and travelled well, held up off the pace set by Lord Accord and Manothepeople. Moving onto the heels of the leaders on the turn for home, he loomed up at the third last and led soon after landing two out, with his only scare when getting low at the last, and he powered away to score by three lengths from Cooper’s Cross (Stuart/Sam Coltherd), with Flash De Touzaine (Liz Doyle/Richie Deegan) third and Threeunderthrufive (Paul Nicholls/Adrian Heskin) fourth.

The winning trainer said: “It’s brilliant. He’s a very important horse. We’ve a big battle on at home with my daughter [Betsy, recently diagnosed with leukaemia], but this is great and will cheer everyone up.

“I’m lucky to have the staff I’ve got, and the family. It’s a great tonic to the children watching at home and I’m looking forward to getting back tonight and seeing them all.

“We had a plan to go Eider Chase and then this. He was a bit slow to come to hand earlier in the season, but he did a piece of work 10 days ago that Jack said we hadn’t seen the likes of for 12 months.

“We came here fairly confident, but we knew we’d need luck in running because he’s only small. It just goes to show the luck you need, he’s flat-bred yet he’s running in four-mile chases.

“Fences probably get in his way. They aren’t too big here and he just seems to come to himself at this time of year.

Prior to the start, protesters from Animal Rising again attempted to disrupt the race, but they were quickly dealt with by police and racecourse staff, meaning the race went off only a couple of minutes late.

Scottish Champion Hurdle

With respect to the champion jockey, Harry Cobden has developed into the finest race rider in Britain over jumps in recent times and produced another front-running masterclass as he and Rubaud proved impossible to catch in the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr.

Sent off a well-backed 7/2 favourite, Rubaud was sent to the front by Cobden, who had ridden a treble on Friday’s card for his boss, and while Lorna Fowler’s Colonel Mustard (Kieren Buckley) threw down a strong challenge after the last hurdle, Cobden had kept a little up his sleeve, and drew away late to post a three-length success, with 2022 winner Anna Bunina (John McConnell/Ben Harvey) a creditable third, a length and a quarter adrift of the runner-up.

Nicholls, due to be crowned champion trainer for the 14th time at Sandown today, said:

“He’s not the easiest of rides but he’s beginning to relax. He went to Aintree last week, but we didn’t run him as the ground had gone soft. That was a fantastic ride.

“He jumps brilliant - you can see he’ll be a fantastic chaser. He’s only young so we might start over hurdles and see where we end up. Harry is fantastic, he has a lot of confidence, he’s only 24 and is a fantastic team player, I’m really proud of him.”

Cobden told TV viewers that the winner will be better when going right-handed, pointing out that he was hanging the whole way, and that the rider needed both hands on his left rein to get him round the final turn.

Rest of the Card

Neither of the market leaders completed in the Grade 2 Future Champion Novices’ Chase, and it was left to Festival Plate flop Datsalrightgino to get back on track as he returned to novice company. He seemed to find the demands of a big-field handicap too much in March but had beaten favourite Balco Coastal earlier in the campaign and returned to that sort of form to win at 8/1 for Jamie Snowden and Gavin Sheehan.

Malystic (Peter Niven/Danny McMenamin) went one better than in 2022 when taking the Scotty Brand Handicap Chase, taking his tally for the season to three wins, and gaining some blacktype in the process.

There were some near misses for Irish yards in the big races, but success came eventually with the bumper falling to the Charles Byrnes-trained and Philip Byrnes-ridden Bumble Bee Bet, who was backed into 11/4 favouritism.

Newbury Saturday

HOT favourite Chaldean unseated Frankie Dettori shortly after the stalls opened in the Group 3 Greenham Stakes, which left plenty of questions unanswered, but credit still must go to winner Isaac Shelby (Brian Meehan/Sean Levey), who made all the running to get his career back on track.

The 15/2 winner was soon in a good lead and came home unchallenged by three lengths from Charyn (Roger Varian/David Egan).

Isaac Shelby looked a smart prospect when winning the Group 3 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket last July but was off the course until running poorly in the Dewhurst, a run which is now easy to forgive as Meehan revealed after Saturday’s race that he had come home lame from that assignment.

He will now head to France for the Poule D’Essai des Poulains.

Alliance copes best

Heavy ground made it hard for the competitors at Newbury on Saturday, with the market leaders flopping in the John Porter Stakes. That allowed the two outsiders to dominate the finish with 18/1 chance Grand Alliance (Charlie Fellowes/James Doyle) getting the better of Farhan (Phil Kirby/Oisin Murphy) by two and a quarter lengths.

The winner is talented, and took his chance in the Derby last year, but he threw the race away in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, and while he’s now run well twice on testing ground, it remains to be seen whether he can build on this, with a step up in class on the cards next time.

Sadly, Mojo Star - runner-up in the Derby, St Leger, and Gold Cup in the last two years, in an injury-interrupted career - finished lame and his racing future is now in serious doubt according to trainer Richard Hannon.

Dubai Duty Free (Fred Darling)

Trainer Ralph Beckett has trained many smart horses for owner Julian Richmond-Watson, including Oaks winner Look Here, and he produced another bright prospect from the same family as Remarquee maintained her unbeaten record in the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes. The Kingman filly, a 7/2 shot, still showed signs of inexperience as she carried her head high in victory but knuckled down well to repel the challenge of Stenton Glider (Hugo Palmer/Tom Marquand) by a neck.

The runner-up had also won her only previous start in novice company, and both fillies are entitled to take their chances at Newmarket next weekend on this evidence. “She doesn’t know very much,” said the winning handler “but she will know more after today and we will certainly go to Newmarket.

“Her mother wanted fast ground and maybe she handles this ground, but I don’t see fast ground being a problem.

“I think she is very good and she has got to go [to the 1000 Guineas] on the back of that.”