Today’s racing
Three-year-old colt Blow Your Horn returns to Newcastle’s all-weather track a month on from making his debut, when he finished a length and three quarters runner-up to the Roger Varian-trained Union.
Despite taking a keen hold in that seven-furlong contest, Blow Your Horn showed plenty of promise and the step up to a mile today looks well within his reach, being a son of Derby and Arc winner Golden Horn.
Owned by Anthony Oppenheimer and trained by Charlie Fellowes, he will face seven rivals in the novice contest including the Charlie Appleby-trained Discovery Island, who was last seen finishing second in a mile maiden at Newmarket in September.
Chelmsford also race on the all-weather today while Punchestown will hope to pass a precautionary 8am inspection for their jumps fixture to go ahead.
Exeter meeting rescheduled
Having been forced to abandon its Sunday card due to Storm Ciara, the BHA announced on Monday that Exeter will stage a fixture this Sunday.
The seven-race card will mirror the races that were lost at the weekend. Entries close today at noon and declarations will have to be made by Friday.
Stuart Middleton, Racing Operations Manager at the BHA, said: “Given the time of year and the specific opportunities that were due to take place yesterday, we felt that on balance the most suitable option was to put on an additional fixture which mirrored the races that were lost.”
French test for Potters Corner before Grand National
Welsh Grand National hero Potters Corner will have one final run before lining up in this year’s Randox Health Grand National at Aintree in April.
Trainer Christian Williams outlined the plans for his stable star on his website and said: “On March 7 there is a €75,000 Listed hurdle at Auteuil, which will suit as you would normally expect to see deep ground at that time of year in Paris.
“I’ll be looking for a good run that day and then we’ll have four weeks to get Potters Corner spot on for Aintree.”