Summer jumps racing resumes in style with more action due to take place this weekend

Maurice Barnes was the first Cumbrian trainer to take advantage of the restart.

The Farlam handler sent the consistent Desert Island Dusk down to Bangor On Dee, and he and his Cumbrian-based colleagues will have a host of runners at Perth, Market Rasen and Hexham over the next few days.

Before the break in action, the jumps headlines nationally had been dominated by the quite remarkable strike-rate of rookie trainer Olly Murphy who had recorded 11 winners and numerous near-misses from his initial 25 runners.

Olly, the son of noted bloodstock agent Aidan Murphy and his wife Annabel King-Murphy, the Warwickshire-based trainer, had previously been working as assistant trainer to Gordon Elliott.

Both he and his former boss will be busy across the region during the coming weekend, particularly Olly. So, keep tabs on his entries to see if he can maintain his fantastic start to his training career.

The majority of Olly’s recent wins have been landed with modest purchases from the sales and Perth’s more valuable contests at tomorrow’s fixture can go the way of established UK stables.

Maurice Barnes has pencilled in his three-time winner No Such Number for the £10,000 Novice Handicap Chase. His successful sequence was halted at Stratford last time out when he dropped to sixth place in a competitive heat. And, tomorrow, he seems likely to face a tough task against Peter Bowen’s rising star Flying Eagle.

This bright new addition to the chasing ranks has been a prolific winner between the flags where, partnered by the trainer’s 16-year-old son James, he set up an unbeaten sequence and was hailed as one of the most outstanding recruits from last season’s Point-to-Point arena.

Made favourite to win on his debut under rules at Market Rasen, he was an expensive disappointment. But he then redeemed himself with a wide-margin success at Cartmel where, ridden by James’s elder brother Sean, he jumped impressively and eased to an all-the-way win. Flying Eagle will be very hard to beat on his Cartmel showing.

Nicky Richards was on a scouting mission in Ireland earlier in the week but he will be at Perth tomorrow, hoping to see his talented hurdler Caius Marcius take the £25,000 Stone of Destiny Handicap Hurdle.

Caius Marcius has plenty of weight to carry and will be hoping that Perth escapes the rain. But, given good jumping ground, he can outclass his rivals.

A comfortable winner over course and distance in mid-May, the Greystoke two-miler was a shade unlucky when finishing only fourth in a stronger race at Cartmel.

He travelled well throughout the contest and was a close second on the approach to the final flight where he lost his winning chance with a bad mistake which saw him relegated to fourth place with insufficient time to regain his momentum.

Perth suits Caius Marcius and he has established a fine rapport with Craig Nichol, his jockey.

Lisa Harrison is very much the Cumbrian punter’s friend at Perth. She has been in grand form at the Tayside course once again this season and would appear to have a sound chance of completing another winning double with Solway Dandy and Munwalla late in tomorrow’s card.

The veteran Solway Dandy proved that he had retained much of his old ability with an excellent third at Market Rasen last month. Lisa has him entered up at the Lincolnshire venue tomorrow evening but Solway Dandy is a noted Perth specialist and course regulars will be hoping he will be in the line up for the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle.

Munwalla has been in the frame in all his last four outings, notably when runner-up at Market Rasen and also a most respectable second behind Tangolan at Perth. He, too, is entered both at Perth and Market Rasen tomorrow and final running plans need to be carefully monitored.

Maurice Barnes could be the busiest of our local jumps trainers over the weekend. He has Indian Voyage entered up in the extended two-mile chase at Market Rasen and will be well represented at Hexham on Monday evening.

Indian Voyage is overdue a win. That is arguably an understatement but the gelding has experienced a lot of what connections are always ready to mention “issues” since his last success.

On the other hand, Indian Voyage has been running well enough without winning of late. He found the trip too far when a creditable fourth on his penultimate run at Perth and only weakened in the closing stages of his most recent outing also at Perth. That was a class 3 race.

At Market Rasen tomorrow, he returns to a class 4 and the distance of 2m 1f should also be in his favour. It will be disappointing if he is not in the shake up.

It is encouraging that Hexham are again racing in August. I am not alone in believing that the course should be bidding to stage more fixtures in midsummer. Hexham is a splendid place to go racing on a warm summer’s evening while it can be spartan on the Yarridge Heights in the winter months.

The most interesting contest at Monday’s meeting is the novices handicap chase run over 3m at 6.30, and the result could concern two Cumbrian-trained jumpers in Barry Murtagh’s Clondaw Banker and the versatile Johnny Go from the Lisa Harrison stable.

Johnny Go alternates between hurdling and chasing. He is seldom out of the money and was a winner last time out. He is the logical selection but I am inclined to go for Clondaw Banker. He was a fair horse for Nicky Henderson and Barry was prepared to bid 20,000gns for him at the sales.

The Ivegill trainer will need time to find the key to his new purchase but there were promising signs at Cartmel when Clondaw Banker finished fourth behind Flying Eagle. That race will have brought him on and he could be a mover on Monday.

Hexham is a rewarding course for followers of the Maurice Barnes stable and this could again be the case on Monday. Flying Jack, a long-priced second over the course last time out, could go one better in the 7.00, and My Idea is on an attractive mark in the handicap chase half-an-hour later.

On the flat, there was no joy for Rachel Richardson and Dance King in the Betfred Ladies Trophy at Haydock last Saturday. With hindsight, the going was always likely to be too soft for the Cumberland Plate winner and so it proved.

Up at Ayr, in contrast, the rain failed to come in time for Keith Fitzsimmon’s Question of Faith with the Martin Todhunter-trained mare touched off by Chesney Beau but she ran another sound race.

At Ayr last Monday, Frank Lowe’s Royal Shaheen finished a commendable third behind Weekend Offender and with the Tutty horses going well Willsy, just beaten at Carlisle’s Ladies Night can make amends in the opener at Doncaster tomorrow.

Highlight at Ripon is the £75,000 Great St Wilfrid Stakes and, were Connor Murtagh to again team up with the Stewards Cup fourth Growl, I would look nowhere else for the winner.