Horse Racing: Warrior of worth

Published on Monday 25 October 2010 15:21

Highland WARRIOR loves the seaside air at Musselburgh and looks set to land his sixth victory on the East Lothian track tomorrow.

The veteran sprinter has netted five of his 14 career wins over this sharp five furlongs with two of those successes coming this year and he certainly looks worth support in the TurfTV Handicap (5.00pm).

The 11-year-old often dwells at the stalls and made his usual tardy start when second here on his reappearance in April, but went one better on this track just five days later, while he was also runner-up here in both July and early September.

But he showed that he still has an engine which really works when sweeping from last to first to score here at the end of last month and it is significant he will again have the easy underfoot conditions he needs to show his best again tomorrow.

Paul Hanaghan is driving hard to clinch the champion jockey's title and has certainly enjoyed a tremendous run of success on this track with 23 winners so far this term for a 40 per cent strike rate. He currently holds a double figure lead over arch rival Richard Hughes and can boost his advantage with a double beginning with Grissom in the opening division of the TurfTV Handicap (1.40pm).

The gelding opened his account on this track as a juvenile almost exactly three years ago and notched another two victories when trained by Alan Berry, but moved to Tim Easterby late this summer.

He has been second, twice and third from four runs for his new handler and was finishing well when runner-up at Pontefract recently. The four-year-old was favourite that day and can recoup losses here.

Hanaghan can complete the double on Crimson Knot who can defy top weight in the Weatherbys Bank Nursery (4.25pm).

The youngster is trained by Berry and opened his winning account on this track in August, while he has also been runner-up on five occasions - two of them at Musselburgh.

He was denied a clear run at a vital stage when beaten only a neck in a similar event here recently and can go one better granted better luck in running.

Fremen has 19 career wins to his credit with seven of them coming on this track and he has been in tremendous form this season with eights wins since March. Even as a ten-year-old, he is a cut above the basement class and can win again in the R & M Engineering Selling Stakes (2.40pm).

Joe Rowntree's Musselburgh selections: 1.40 Grissom; 2.40 Fremen; 4.25 Crimson Knot; 5.00 Highland Warrior.