Carlisle Racecourse stages the best fixture of its Jump season on Sunday, Pricedup Colin Parker Raceday.
The seven-race card features two £40,000 Listed contests – the Pricedup Boosted Prices Daily Houghton Mares' Chase (13:48) and the Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase (14:58). Both races take place over two and a half miles.
A cracking line up for the Pricedup Boosted Prices Daily Houghton Mares' Chase includes last year’s winner Paggane. The seven-year-old warmed up to defend her title in perfect style when successful on the Flat at Goodwood last month under Saffie Osborne.
Panic Attack was one of the stars of last season with valuable back-to-back wins in two of its most competitive handicap chases, the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham and the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury.
On her final start of last season, Panic Attack took third place behind the re-opposing Apple Away in the Listed Fair Maid Of Perth Mares’ Chase at Perth in April.
A Grade One winner over hurdles in the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at the 2023 Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree, the nine-year-old Apple Away was last seen when sixth in the Grade One Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil (French Champion Hurdle) in May.
Lucinda Russell, who jointly trains the daughter of Arctic Cosmos with Michael Scudamore at Kinross in Scotland, is looking forward to getting her back on the racecourse. She said: “Apple Away started her season here last year and I think it's a good starting point again. It's at least half a mile, if not further, short of her optimum distance, but it's a kind place to start her back.
"At Carlisle, the fences are good, the track is always well-presented - I think it's the right place to start her back. If the ground was softer than it is, that would be even better, but it is what it is.
“She ran really well in France. She had a setback after this race last season and then we didn't know if we were going to get her right for the spring. Then the allure of French racing and some soft ground took us over to the French Champion Hurdle, where she ran a fantastic race. Her win at Perth was good too – she loves it around there.
“She is a fabulous mare to be involved with and I think we are very lucky.”
The line up is completed by Obsessedwithyou, a Listed winner at Wincanton last season and another Scottish-trained challenger in Celestial Fashion, who was triumphant twice at Carlisle last season in mares’ handicap chases.
A very closely matched contest is in prospect for the Colin Parker Intermediate Memorial Chase, with the three runners separated by just 4lb on Official Ratings. The top-rated performer is Potters Charm, a Grade One-winning hurdler who got his chasing career off to the perfect start when successful at Worcester on October 12th.
Champion trainer Dan Skelton has selected to run Doyen Quest from his entries. The eight-year-old will be making his first start since the final day of last season at Sandown Park in April, when he recorded the biggest victory of his career when taking the Grade Two bet365 Oaksey Chase by six lengths.
The third runner is Wendigo, successful in the Grade Two John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury last season. His trainer Jamie Snowden has revealed that he is building up to a challenge for the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury later in November with the seven-year-old.
The Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase commemorates the late Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer Colin Parker, who was based at Lockerbie in Scotland.
The race is restricted to first and second season chasers with its impressive roll of honour featuring the likes of future Grade One winners Lostintranslation, Waiting Patiently, Cyrname and Monet’s Garden, plus Grand National hero Many Clouds.
