Horse Racing: Apprentice is all fired up

Published on Monday 18 May 2009 10:02

TEENAGE apprentice Jamie Kyme landed the first double of his career at Beverley a week ago and looks set to repeat the dose at Musselburgh tomorrow.

The Irish teenager was seen in great light when prevailing against senior riders in two very tight finishes on the Yorkshire course and is full of confidence, having ridden five winners from his last 14 mounts.

He is apprenticed to Malton trainer John Quinn and can partner both Solis and Master Nimbus to victory for his boss on the East Lothian circuit.

The former opened his account over seven furlongs at Warwick in the spring and narrowly failed to follow up at Newcastle recently when dropped back in trip. He finished strongly on the far side, while the winner came up the nearside of the track and that may have made all the difference.

The handicapper put him up 4lbs after that initial win, but has added just 1lb to his rating since Newcastle and Kyme's 7lb allowance means that the three-year-old looks on a handy mark in the Racing UK Live Handicap (2.50pm) when he steps back up again to seven furlongs.

Kyme will claim just 5lbs allowance on Master Nimbus in the final event – the TurfTV Apprentice Handicap (5.20pm) when the nine-year-old can make a successful return to action after a seven-month break.

The gelding spent much of last year racing over fences and was placed several times over the larger obstacles, but has not raced since early November. He has won six times over hurdles though and has three victories on the level to his credit too.

Two of those successes came over a mile and a half at Ripon last summer and although he faces an extra quarter of a mile tomorrow, there are no doubts about his stamina. He goes on any ground too and has won for both an apprentice and an amateur rider in the past, so is clearly the perfect ride for a youngster.

Bryan Smart has a good record on the seaside circuit and Angaric can give the Yorkshire trainer another winner here in the homecomingeastlothian.com Handicap (3.50pm).

The six-year-old has raced just four times at Musselburgh, winning twice, going down by a short head on another occasion and also finishing a close sixth in a competitive affair. All those races were over seven furlongs and he battled on gamely to win at the last meeting just over two weeks ago.

The chestnut tackles that same seven-furlong trip again and, although he has been drawn towards the wide outside of the field, he has plenty of pace and will take a lot of beating, especially as the handicapper has put him up only 1lb for that latest success.

Ollie Pears had plenty of winners on the East Lothian track as a jockey and can land his first as a trainer with Rowan Lodge in the Scottish Racing Selling Stakes (3.20pm).

Pears has saddled 20 winners since taking out his licence 18 months ago and Rowan Lodge has provided four of them. The latest came at Beverley last month and the gelding can follow up here.

Joe Rowntree's Musselburgh selections: 2.50 Solis; 3.20 Rowan Lodge; 3.50 Angaric; 5.20 Master Nimbus.