IF you are after a jockey in form, look no further than East Lothian-born Andrew Mullen. Nicknamed “Midge”, the diminutive Flat rider may not have moved with Mick Appleby to his new base in the Midlands, but that hasn’t stopped him having plenty of winners including a couple of recent trebles at Southwell.
Mullen, whose home is near Scotch Corner, will still ride for certain owners in Appleby’s yard but he is now operating as a freelance and he should be supplied with plenty of firepower by the likes of David Barron, David Evans and Mark Johnston.
Last year saw him ride 57 winners, just five shy of his highest score in 2015. Don’t bet against him scaling new heights in the months ahead.
The New Year got off to a flying start at Musselburgh when a crowd of more than 6,400 was up by 1,000 on corresponding meeting in 2016. Superb Story produced a decent weight-carrying performance in the feature which, according to his trainer Dan Skelton, earns him an entry in the Champion Hurdle.
The horse knows where the Cheltenham winning post is as he landed last season’s County Hurdle (he’ll be entered in that too) so he could represent early each-way value at a top-priced 25/1.
There were no Scottish winners on Ne’rday but there were four at Ayr on Monday including a double for Sandy Thomson. Rowdy Rocher, ridden to victory by the ever-impressive Rachael McDonald, carries the colours of North Queensferry couple Michelle and Dan Macdonald, who have had horses trained by Paul Nicholls, Lucinda Russell and Nick Alexander.
Once again, Emma Marley and her groundstaff team at Ayr played a blinder by deploying the frost sheets on the entire course. It was -6c just a few miles away and the covers ensured racing went ahead in front of a crowd of more than 3,500, the highest at the fixture since 1994.
Back at Musselburgh on Tuesday, Keith Dalgleish saddled his first winners of 2017, while his opening Flat scorer arrived the following afternoon at Wolverhampton. He was telling me he’s building another 40 boxes as he has around 130 horses in his Belstane Stables at Carluke. Last year saw Dalgleish’s yard record a best-ever 93 winners with 81 on the Flat and 12 over jumps.
The word is he has the thick end of 50 two-year-olds so another successful campaign appears to be on the cards.
Don’t forget to check out our Twitter feed (@ScottishRacing) and www.scottishracing.co.uk for all the latest news.
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