Jumpers back at Musselburgh

Musselburgh begins its National Hunt season today with a seven-card meeting which has more than £40,000 in prize money on offer.

With nine jump meetings throughout the winter months, total prize money is set at £380,000 and Musselburgh has pledged to feature at least one £10,000 race on each day, despite a continued drop in the levels of prize money at UK racecourses.

Seasonal highlights include the New Year’s Day meeting which includes two £20,000 races and the John Smith’s Cheltenham Trials Day in February, also with two £20,000 races.

Musselburgh Racecourse general manager Bill Farnsworth said: “Every racecourse is in the same boat and we are all greatly affected by the downward trend of levels of funding provided by the bookmaking industry. Despite this shortfall, we are really pushing the boat out and will put on a £10,000 feature race at every jumps meeting as we maintain our policy of trying to make Musselburgh an attractive option for trainers and owners to come racing.”

Today’s card starts with the two-and-a-half-mile Scottish Racing Handicap Hurdle, in which Alfie Flits heads the weights. Dougie Costello rides the versatile nine-year-old for Alan Swinbank, but Alfie Flits found winning hard to come by last season and preference will be for Beat The Shower. The Peter Niven-trained five-year-old, a previous winner at Musselburgh, is fit from the flat.

The Mares Maiden Hurdle is tailor-made for the promising D’Gigi from the Cleveland stable of Keith Reveley. Partnered by James Reveley, the trainer’s son, D’Gigi was runner-up in a well contested Musselburgh bumper race last spring.

James Ewart has been in excellent form since the beginning of the autumn jumps campaign and the Langholm-based trainer can maintain his hot streak with Beneficial Reform in the novices chase. The horse, a winner at Ffos Las in April, was a runner up over hurdles at Uttoxeter in May. He made his chasing debut at Kelso in October and finished a respectable fourth. He would have been even closer at Kelso had he not taken the second last by the roots and, given a clear round, will be hard to beat.

Fred Bojanglas is primed to win the TurfTV Handicap Chase. The Musselburgh course winner, trained by Ann Hamilton in Northumberland, has been steadily returning to form and was only headed inside the final 50 yards by The Magic Bishop at Hexham on his most recent outing. Fred Bojanglas, partnered today by Lucy Alexander, is suited to a flat track and is now back down to a winning mark.

Meanwhile, Long Run and Kauto Star are the headline names among 19 entries for the Betfair Chase at Haydock on 19 November.

Kauto Star will be bidding for a remarkable fourth win in the Grade One prize, to go with his four victories in the King George VI Chase and two Cheltenham Gold Cups. But the 11-year-old looks set to face his sternest test in the race to date, with last year’s King George and Gold Cup hero Long Run on course to make his seasonal reappearance in the three-mile contest.

Kauto Star was pulled up on his final start of last season at Punchestown, leading many to question whether the French-bred gelding should be retired. But owner Clive Smith was pleased to see him show plenty of enthusiasm in a gallop after racing at Exeter on Tuesday.

He said: “We are going to run him in the Betfair Chase and then everything will come out regarding his future. He could be retired, he could have another run or he might be around for another go at the Gold Cup.”