HALLA SAN opened his account over hurdles in impressive style at Musselburgh recently and looks all set to follow up on the East Lothian track tomorrow.
The gelding has five victories on the level to his credit and was a well-backed favourite on his hurdling bow at Catterick in December, but inexperience told in the home straight and he finished only third.
However, the six-year-old retrieved tho
se losses in style when cruising up to lead at the final flight and win on this track in January to justify favouritism.
He takes on more experienced opposition in the WBX.COM Handicap Hurdle (3.50pm), but has a reasonable weight to carry and it may prove a shrewd move by trainer Richard Fahey to move him straight up into handicap company rather than continue in novice classes under a penalty.
Hall San will also appreciate the better ground underfoot on the seaside circuit and he gets a confident vote to win again.
Middleton Dene has won all four of his races over hurdles this term and can extend the unbeaten sequence in the opening EBF National Hunt Novices Hurdle (1.50pm). The gelding won three times at Perth in late summer and then beat much better opposition at Cheltenham at the end of October.
He was ridden on all those occasions by amateur Rose Davidson, but she is on the sidelines through suspension tomorrow, so Tony Dobbin takes over in the saddle and Middleton Dene can return from his winter break to score again.
Akarem is another useful performer on the level who has made a smooth transition to hurdling. He won five times and earned more than £120,000 in prize money on the flat and ran with credit on more than one occasion in Listed company.
The gelding made a successful debut over hurdles at Kelso in November and then reverted to the level to finish fourth in a Listed event on the all-weather at Kempton early in December.
The seven-year-old has since finished second in decent events at Wetherby and Doncaster.
That latter run was particularly good form and he can take the Chris Markey Novices Hurdle (2.20pm) tomorrow.
Rich Lord was useful on the all-weather at Southwell on his racing debut exactly a year ago and showed plenty of promise in his first couple of starts in the Autumn.
He was third at Sedgefield and occupied that same position again in a competitive affair at Kelso last month before opening his account over timber at Catterick a fortnight ago.
The gelding is clearly going the right way and he can follow up in the Anderson Strathern 20 years of Sponsorship Juvenile Novices' Hurdle (3.20pm).
Musselburgh selections: 1.50 Middleton Dene; 2.20 Akarem; 3.20 Rich Lord 3.50 Halla San.
The full article contains 477 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
