20:00 Stratford

Saturday 1 June 2019

All18:0018:3019:0019:3020:0020:3021:00

Charles Peters Novices' Handicap Hurdle

Off time: 20:00 | Winning time: 5m 42.70s

Blue N Yellow²⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 12-0| J: J J Burke| T: T R George| OR: 102

5/1

Confirmed notion he was progressing over timber when holding on well to win Exeter handicap (2m2½f, good; 5-1) in early May. Up in distance now facing novices' once more and sets the standard to aim at.

Form: 1/7243-1

Eolian⁵⁹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: Fergus Gregory⁽⁵⁾| T: O Murphy| OR: 100| BF

11/1

Runner-up at Huntingdon (2m, good to soft) was best effort for this trainer and backed that up when occupying same role at Market Rasen (2m2½f, good) in April. Stamina to be proven here, but well worth betting check.

Form: 007422-

Careyanne⁶¹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: P J Brennan| T: D Loughnane| OR: 100

28/1

Mare was fair on the Flat with a couple of wins at up to 1m4f, some promise on hurdles bow at Ludlow in February (2m, good) but has taken backwards steps since at Bangor and back there and gets a watching brief now as such.

Form: 560-

Too Much To Ask⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: R Johnson| T: J Candlish| OR: 100| BF

6/5

Irish maiden hurdler, 0-8 before departing though finished second on final start at Tipperary. Well backed for stable debut this week at Cartmel (2m6f, good; 3-1f) where he led at the last but idled and settled for second spot (front pair clear).

Form: 60U7-22

My Lady Grey^p²⁴

Age: 5| Weight: 11-1| J: Harry Cobden| T: C L Tizzard| OR: 89

6/1

Beat the remainder home without issue at Fontwell (2m5½f, good, good to firm) 24 days ago when unable to reel back front-running winner. Cheekpieces are retained and entitled to fancy another title at a prize now.

Form: 8P787-2

Racing Spirit^t¹²

Age: 7| Weight: 10-8| J: Nick Scholfield| T: Dave Roberts| OR: 82

12/1

13-race maiden over timber, entitled to have needed Bangor run in March (2m½f, soft) after 522 days off, duly shaped with much more purpose at Ludlow (3m, good; 11-1) in novice handicap since and could harbour place claims if able to build on that.

Form: 7032/5-3

Mustaaqeem^b¹⁸

Age: 7| Weight: 10-4| J: Sean Houlihan⁽³⁾| T: B J Llewellyn| OR: 78

16/1

Wide-margin defeats in trio of novice/maiden hurdle starts back in November, having regressed from early promise on the Flat (1-21 in that code). Hard to fancy after latest Chepstow defeat on the level 18 days ago.

Form: 604-

Scorpion Sea^t¹⁹⁶

Age: 8| Weight: 10-1| J: Ceris Biddle⁽¹⁰⁾| T: R Dickin| OR: 75

50/1

Showed promise in a Galway (good) bumper on debut in 2016 but that seems an awful long time ago now. Unable to get competitive in any of five starts over timber in Ireland/Britain so far. Back from a layoff with all to prove.

Form: 0070/70-

Talkingpicturestv²³

Age: 6| Weight: 10-0| J: Lee Edwards| T: Henry Oliver| OR: 73| BF

6/1

Mare is 0-9 over timber (twice placed) but clearly has some ability and she's been running well in fair handicaps this spring at in and around 3m. Can't be discounted back in novice company.

Form: 45743-3

Non-Runners

Havana River¹⁰

Weight: 10-11| Age: 6

T: J Farrelly J: Alain Cawley

Forecasts

Too Much To Ask (6/5), Blue N Yellow (5/1), Talkingpicturestv (6/1), My Lady Grey (6/1), Eolian (11/1), Racing Spirit (12/1), Mustaaqeem (16/1), Careyanne (28/1), Scorpion Sea (50/1), Havana River (50/1)

Too Much To Ask was well-backed on stable debut this week at Cartmel but settled for second after unveiling some quirks late on. He travelled strongly for a long way and gets the services of Richard Johnson now in his bid to quickly go one better. Preference though is BLUE N YELLOW, who improved to win at Exeter last time and could have more to offer if seeing out this extra yardage. My Lady Grey just couldn't catch the frontrunner last time at Fontwell but came in a clear second and joins Talkingpicturestv in completing the shortlist.