Tidal Bay comes back up for Ayr Trainer hails recovery after Aintree fall

Wednesday 13 April 2011

TIDAL BAY, who fell at the tenth fence in the Aintree Grand National four days ago, could well take his chance in the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr this Saturday.

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ian paul ian.paul@heraldandtimes.co.uk

Trainer Howard Johnson can hardly believe how well his horse has recovered from those exertions. He said: “I don’t know what to do with him at the moment, but he didn’t really have a race at Aintree and he was just lobbing along on the inside when he got rid of Brian Hughes.

“The horse has come back and has been in the field ever since. He’s bucking, kicking and squealing. He is eating up well and kicking sky-high when other horses are going past. He doesn’t over-exert himself and he’s had an easy season. He’s been geared up for the Grand National and it went wrong on me.“He’s a 10-year-old now and where can he go now? I might be tempted to run him on Saturday.”Should top-weight Neptune Collonges line up at Ayr this weekend, Tidal Bay will be next on the list with 11st 10lb on his back. If he is given the go-ahead for Ayr, the next decision will be whether to claim weight off the veteran with a conditional jockey.“I’d have to talk to [owner] Graham Wylie about that,” Johnson added. “The race will declare on Thursday, so we’ll have to decide what we’re going to do by then. If Paul Nicholls runs the top horse, we’ll be next in the weights.”The Flat season gets into full swing this afternoon at the two- day Craven Newmarket meeting, the highlight of which today is the Nell Gwyn Stakes. The second highest- rated contender for this prestigious fillies race is Crying Lightening, who has come back from Meydan after winning the last of her four races there. She is clearly fit to do her best but there are some serious threats to overcome, including the highest- rated candidate, Maqaasid, who was lightly raced last term, finishing third in two Group races after winning her opening two tests.The Aidan O’Brien-trained Sing Softly has already won two races this term and will be fancied to make it three here.It is an open affair but maybe the John Gosden-trained Maqaasid (4.10), will have improved enough to beat this field.In the first of the season’s rich sales races, the £150,000 Tattersall Millions Sprint, Kieren Fallon has a big chance on Luca Cumani’s Khor Sheed, who was twice a winner over this course and distance last year. She ought to go close but Neebras (3.0), the Godolphin horse trained by Mahmood Al Zarooni, who was second in the Group 2 July Stakes here last season, has a big chance, too.It is hard to rule out any of the six runners in the Free Handicap but Rerouted (3.35) may be good enough to win.n Newmarket selections3.00 Neebras 3.35 Rerouted4.10 Maqaasid

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Tidal Bay comes back up for Ayr Trainer hails recovery after Aintree fall

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