Iain Jardine seeks joy of sixth

At the Punchestown Festival in Ireland yesterday, Bog War, ridden by David Mullins, right, was victorious. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Trained near Hawick by Iain Jardine, he faces ten rivals in the 1m 6f handicap, a race he won three years ago.

Jardine said: “He’s been working well at home and I’d really have fancied him strongly if he’d had a run under his belt. He loves the course and this trip and ground won’t be a problem for him either.

“Hopefully, he’ll still go well and I feel he’s set for another good season. As well as winning this race he finished third in it a couple of years ago and it’s a good starting point.”

Among the opposition for La Bacouetteuse is James Ewart-trained Rockawango, a winner over fences at Kelso last November and Jim Goldie’s veteran Dhaular Dhar who will be making his 140th appearance.

After her 1-2-3 at Ayr on Monday, Linda Perratt will be hoping to build on her good early season form with Bunce in the Weatherbys Private Banking Handicap. The East Kilbride raider just failed by a head to complete a double for his trainer at Ayr and was a course and distance winner at Musselburgh last summer.

Hernando Torres, who is in a relative purple patch, can make it a hat-trick in the Weatherbys Bank Handicap. Mick Easterby’s charge snapped a lengthy losing streak when triumphing at Wolverhampton in January and he proved that was no flash in the pan when switching to the turf to good effect at Newcastle earlier in April.

The seven-year-old ran off a mark of 60 on the all-weather and was subsequently hiked 5lb for his length and a quarter verdict in what was not the strongest of heats. However, Hernando Torres showed he was still more than competitive off his revised perch when running out a two-and-a-quarter-length winner of an apprentice contest on his most recent outing. His rivals were probably nothing to write home about, but he did it in good enough style to suggest he might not be at the end of his tether just yet. A further 7lb rise is clearly not ideal but he is still at the lower end of the weights here and appears to like the seven-furlong trip.