Musselburgh 3.35
Musselburgh 3.35 9 Mixboy @ 10/1 / 13 Night Of Glory @ 10/1 (both 1/4 point each way) - Lad/Coral/PP/Sky - odds to 4th place
(see notes re TRICAST PERM with 2 other named horses)
An early season and always interesting longer distance race at Musselburgh where they may have rain and snow to contend
with, as well as an ongoing dispute between Course Officials and the Local Council who own the Land and who seem to think they know more
about Racing than the experts do, we may see Musselburgh losing its License at some point as a result, which would be a tragedy. There are
more than one local Politicians who do have a real love of Horse Racing, hopefully they can bang some heads at local level and leave well alone.
I narrowed this down to a shortlist of four, a couple well handicapped and who usually run and have won well first time out, those being TIME TO STUDY
and GRACELAND, both are big dangers, especially TTS with the Johnson yard hitting the ground running and both are feared. However, I will side
with a couple who are race fir from NH/AW and who have good form early on the Turf; nice handicap marks and who can handle the Going if it gets
soft, MIXBOY is fit, good Course form, likes to get on with it and race prominently, always an asset here and in Joe Fanning no better exponent.
NIGHT OF GLORY is fit from AW; best Flat RPR are on soft; Andrew Balding comes a long way for this and Josephine Gordon a match for any
jockey around, likely to come from slightly off the pace, and tactically; I'd rather a pair like that than either 2 who race prominently or hold up. I
think that Time To Study and Graceland are VERY SOLID Tricast material and with Lads / Coral / PP and Sky going odds to 4th, if you want a
small saver on them too with a bit of change, would NOT put you off but the tips are as noted, if either tip is a non runner - substitute TTS.
We did look at American Gigolo; Brandon Castle and Clever Cookie but all three look a bit exposed on first time out form, and may need run.