Grey Dawning among key weekend entries at Kelso

Grey Dawning up against Iroko

Grey Dawning is one of the star attractions at Kelso on Saturday as he returns to the fray for the bet365 Premier Chase.

Trainer Dan Skelton had been weighing up whether last year’s Cheltenham Festival hero might bid for glory in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup this spring, but defeats at Haydock and Kempton have prompted a rethink, with Aintree’s Grade 1 Bowl now the intended target.

This weekend’s Listed contest in Scotland is considered the ideal stepping-stone for the grey, although he's in line to face the Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero-trained Iroko, who also has Aintree at the top of his agenda and is the fourth-favourite at 12/1 for the Randox Grand National.

There are half a dozen horses entered in the race at this stage, with Barrons Land (Laura Horsfall), El Elefante (Lucinda Russell), Quick Wave (Venetia Williams) and Spyglass Hill (Barry Brennan) completing the sextet.

Key early entries not confirmed

Antepost favourite Joyeuse does not feature among 23 horses left in the bet365 Morebattle Hurdle on the same richly-endowed Kelso card.

Owned by JP McManus and trained by Nicky Henderson, the mare was an eight-length winner of the William Hill Hurdle at Newbury earlier in the month and her trainer had hinted that a trip north of the border might be the next port of call.

However, on Monday he said: “She’s fine but she’s not going to Kelso. Everything is under consideration for her I would say, we can put it like that, we haven’t got any further.

"We did think about Kelso but it was only three weeks ago and she would have had an awful lot of weight, so we’ve decided to leave that."

The daughter of No Risk At All – who holds no Cheltenham Festival entries but could still be supplemented for the Mares’ Hurdle or Unibet Champion Hurdle – misses out this weekend, along with the McManus-owned gelding McLaurey.

Emmet Mullins’ representative, who was the long-range second-favourite for the Morebattle, won a handicap hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival and is among the market leaders for both the County Hurdle and Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham next month.

Mullins could still run another of his DRF scorers, the eight-year-old mare Vischio, who is seeking a hat-trick of handicap wins after she made a striking debut for the yard at Leopardstown.

Vischio is the sole remaining Irish-trained runner, with the weights headed by Alan King's Favour And Fortune, who was fourth to Joyeuse at Newbury.

Dan Skelton relies on Rock House having taken out Joyeux Machin and Beau Quali, while last year's winner Cracking Rhapsody is in line for a repeat bid.

Jonjo and AJ O'Neill have left in the lightly-raced Tellherthename, last seen finishing fourth to Sir Gino in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle in November, and David Pipe has a fairly well-fancied contender in improving six-year-old novice Jurancon in the colours of Brocade Racing.

Nicholls watching weather for Kid

Iroko and Spyglass Hill are also entered in the feature race at Newbury, the BetVictor Greatwood Gold Cup Handicap Chase, in which Kandoo Kid could bid to go one better than last year.

Kandoo Kid's trainer Paul Nicholls has had his eye fixed on a crack at the Grand National since the grey galloped to a seasonal comeback success in the Coral Gold Cup at the Berkshire venue back in November and is on the lookout for a suitable prep race ahead of Aintree, where Kandoo Kid was a running-on third in the Topham Handicap Chase last April.

Nicholls, who has won nine of the past 19 editions of the Greatwood Gold Cup, told Betfair on Monday morning: “I'd like to see it dry up for Newbury at the weekend; I see at the moment the hurdles is now soft, heavy in places, chase track soft.

“I am going to enter Kandoo Kid in the two and a half mile 100 grand handicap chase. He was second in it last year on heavy ground and it will be a nice place to run him as a prep for Aintree, he needs one run or a racecourse gallop and he should run round well in that race which is perfect timing five weeks before Aintree.

“He likes Newbury. It's not like he's going to run two and a half miles on fast ground, it's going to be testing so it will be the ideal place and we look forward to running him at the weekend. But with the ground being quite as testing as it is, I'm not going to run too many until it dries up a bit."

Willie Mullins' Meetingofthewaters is another fascinating possible runner, with Billytherealbigred, Midnight River and Saint Segal also featuring among the 21 possibles at the five-day stage.

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.