John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Sunday.
Three points of interest
Very smart hurdler Pied Piper makes chasing debut
Pied Piper has twice been placed under big weights in the County Hurdle, so that makes him an interesting chasing debutant for Gordon Elliott in the beginners chase at Down Royal (16:05) where stablemate Binge Worthy, who contested a more competitive similar event at Naas last time, boasts the best chase form on offer.
Winning pointer Binge Worthy is more obviously bred for fences than the Flat-bred Pied Piper but the latter has the right sort of build for the bigger obstacles, being a well-made type. He also has a very smart level of ability to call on from his hurdling days. Besides his County Hurdle exploits, he also dead-heated in the Anniversary Hurdle at Aintree earlier in his career, only to be demoted to second, and is a course winner at Down Royal where he won the Grade 2 WKD Hurdle in the autumn of 2022. Having begun his career on the Flat for John Gosden in the royal colours, Pied Piper was also runner-up for Elliott in the 2023 Cesarewitch.
Pied Piper has been lightly raced since trying to concede more than a stone to winner Absurde when third in last season’s County Hurdle and was well held on his latest run at Leopardstown last month, but he has cheekpieces on for the first time over jumps (has worn them on the Flat) and could well be up to making a successful debut over fences.
Sporting chance in Sunday Series at Musselburgh
Musselburgh hosts the first of this year’s six Sky Bet Sunday Series meetings which offers £100,000 to the first horse to win races at three such fixtures. That bonus was landed last year by Jim Goldie’s likeable stayer Letsbefrank who made into a fairly useful handicapper through the summer with wins in the Series at Hamilton, Thirsk and Pontefract.
Letsbefrank’s trainer is a strong supporter of the Sunday Series – he had two winners at this meeting last year – and Goldie is well represented again on Sunday’s card, including in the mile and a half handicap (17:15) where Letsbefrank is one of the yard’s four runners. Another stablemate of interest is the lightly-raced six-year-old Cascade Hall, a likely improver making his handicap debut.
However, the one they all have to beat is Sportingsilvermine who is yet another horse to have reaped the rewards of a switch to James Owen who has the ‘Hot Trainer’ flag. Previously with Denis Hogan in Ireland, Sportingsilvermine lost his maiden tag at the first attempt for his new stable when well backed for a handicap at Southwell last month, leading close home for a neck win over Gozo. He heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings and, with the promise of more to come for his new yard, he can follow up from just a 2 lb higher mark.
Plenty of positives for Mister Bluebird
Later on the Musselburgh card, Mister Bluebird looks to have plenty going for him in the first of the seven-furlong handicaps (18:15). He has been targeted at Sunday Series races at Musselburgh before, winning one such race over course and distance in the summer of 2022 and running a good second in this particular contest two years ago, efforts which have earned him the ‘Horses For Courses’ flag.
In addition, Mister Bluebird goes well fresh – his form figures first time out for the last four seasons read 1224 - and his trainer Heather Main has been successful with four of her last seven runners. It’s therefore not too concerning that Mister Bluebird ended 2024 with some below-form efforts after his latest win at Bath in October.
Mister Bluebird returns with the cheekpieces back on that he has worn for most of his wins, while Jack Mitchell is also back on board for the first time since that Bath win. He’s therefore of firm interest here and tops the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
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