Racing: A local victory for Dalgleish

Act Your Shoe Size, a first ride for the Carluke trainer by Robert Havlin, pipped Simply Shining by a nose in a thrilling finish to the EBF Captain JC Stewart Fillies Handicap.

Dalgleish said: “I spoke to Robert and he said she was very brave. It was a nice race to win on a big occasion at our local track.”

The yard had earlier struck with Argaki, who lost his maiden tag at the ninth attempt for Joe Fanning. The trainer added: “He had been knocking at the door and deserved to win a race. He will go handicapping now.”

Mitchelton looks a filly with a bright future after romping to a five-length victory and initiate a double for Joe Fanning in the two-year-old maiden.

Winning trainer Mark Johnston said: “She got an interesting pedigree by High Chaparral out of a sprinting mare and the mix doesn’t always work but she is clearly useful. It was a good performance and she wasn’t stopping but we will probably stick at six furlongs for now.”

Meanwhile, Noel Wilson is expecting a big run from recent course and distance winner Pavers Star in the feature race at Musselburgh today. The Yorkshire raider is on bottom weight and one of nine speedsters declared for the Investec Wealth & Investment Handicap. Wilson said: “He’s a couple of pounds out of the handicap but he’s very well. We kept an eye on the race as it cut up and it’s very good prize money for the grade.

“He was a frustrating little horse last year as he took a few runs to come to hand but wearing a hood has made all the difference to him. We also run a nice two-year-old called Pavers bounty in the first race and Musselburgh has been a happy hunting ground for me.”

Another recent scorer at the East Lothian track, the nine-year-old will be contesting his 100th race as he bids to follow up his success in this event 12 months ago.

Today’s meeting is the East Lothian course’s fourth in June and follows the totepool Edinburgh Cup, Stobo Castle Ladies Day and William Hill Scottish Sprint Cup, which attracted more than 17,000 race goers and offered total prize money of £360,000. Musselburgh general manager, Bill Farnsworth, said: “It’s been an exciting month for us and we are delighted our three key meetings went off without a hitch. The Edinburgh Cup and Scottish Sprint Cup, both very different fixtures, are continuing to develop a strong following and we have an excellent foundation to build on in the coming years.

“Ladies Day was our ninth consecutive sellout and we really feel this was our best yet. With another nine flat meetings over the summer months, we hope we can mirror the success we enjoyed in June and make it a Flat season to remember.” Meanwhile, an application on behalf of MC Racetracks Limited for Great Leighs to participate in the allocation of the 2014 fixture list has been rejected by the Board of the British Horseracing Authority.

Having considered an application at its June board meeting, the BHA decided it was not able to grant Great Leighs any fixtures.

Great Leighs staged its first meeting in April 2008 – when it was the first new track to host racing in Britain since 1927 – but, by January 2009, had closed its doors. Later that month it was announced the companies owning the racecourse had gone into administration. In May 2012, MC Racetracks was informed by the BHA that its application to join the 2013 fixture allocation process had also been unsuccessful.