A Musselburgh Saturday Treble!
Wed 12 Apr 2023
Great to be back at Musselburgh, for their first turf meeting. It's a course where we were crowned Champion Owner in 2021 and it was lovely to see our name and colours displayed at the course to mark that achievement. We headed there on the Saturday, with 4 runners and this was the outcome....
WINNER 19 OF 2023: SILKY WILKIE trained by Karl Burke and ridden by Clifford Lee: The £45k Class 2 'Tote World Pool Scottish Sprint Cup Handicap' over 5f at Musselburgh.
Drawn in 14, against the rail, he made his customary good start and pressed the leader. At the 2 furlong marker, there were plenty of jockeys in behind asking for efforts, but once Clifford asked Silky to quicken, nothing could get to him. He kept on strongly and went well clear inside final furlong, to win very impressively, by 4 and 3/4 lengths. Now for a 5f race, that is awesome!
"Silky Wilkie has absolutely annihilated them!" Watch the full race replay here: https://www.racingtv.com/videos/watch/horse_racing_replays/437856-tote-world-pool-scottish-sprint-cup-handicap-2
Here's Clifford's post race interview:
Timeform rated it as a superb and career best rating of +115, saying: "Back under a fully-fledged rider for the first time since last summer, was back down in trip and produced the kind of performance rarely seen in this type of contest, for all there was an element of him putting race fitness to good use and having his winning margin exaggerated a touch due to the trouble the runner-up encountered; prominent, led over 2f out, stormed clear final 1f despite edging a touch right; he'll presumably get a shot at a higher grade now, that surely the trajectory once the handicapper has had his say.”
The Racing Post, made him their 'Star performer' on the card: "Silky Wilkie (3.00) showed really smart form to blitz his rivals in the 5f handicap."
See the official photo gallery here: https://www.grossick.co.uk/p/80532khg/C385529385/x3-silky-wilkie
Syndicate manager Mike says: "Wow!!! It’s not often that you see a big handicap won in that style and he was hugely impressive. He’s thriving on his racing at the moment, very well done to his syndicate. The handicapper has now put him up to 108 and Karl and I have a couple of Group 3 races in mind for him. He is a firm favourite here at MPR!"
We have added a last remaining 2.5% share in Silky Wilkie to our shares page, if you would like to be a part of this likeable and highly rated horse: https://www.middlehamparkracing.net/horses/view,silky-wilkie_1404.htm
WINNER 20 OF 2023: MONSIEUR KODI, trained by Richard Fahey and ridden by Oisin Orr: The 'Ina & Ella Macgregor Memorial Handicap' over 5f at Musselburgh.
Drawn in the centre, he settled into midfield towards the near side. The pace was a quick one and although he was a little short of room 2f out, he made good headway and went into the lead inside the final furlong, keeping on to win, by 1/2 a length.
"Monsieur Kodi is going to win it and win it very nicely indeed." Watch the full race replay here: https://www.racingtv.com/videos/watch/horse_racing_replays/437858-ina-ella-macgregor-memorial-handicap-4
Timeform rated it as a career best, 88 saying: "Dropped 3 lb since last run, returned to form after 6 months off; mid-field, switched over 1f out, stayed on to lead well inside final 1f.”
Richard was in attendance and said in his Racing TV interview: "I did genuinely think that 5f would be too sharp for him, but they went very hard and you needed to be a 6f horse to win. When he won at Carlisle it looked like he might even go 7f, but they can get quicker, so we will have a chat with the MPR team and see where we go!"
See the official photo gallery here: https://www.grossick.co.uk/p/80532khg/C385529388/x6-monsieur-kodi
Syndicate manager Tom says: "Congratulations to his owners on his fine victory and a nice prize pot of over £6,000 too. I thought Oisin did well, biding his time with him; a perfectly executed ride. He should come on fitness wise for that and we could well have a nice season with him.”
WINNER 21 OF 2023: BELTANE, trained by Keith Dalgleish and ridden by Kevin Stott: The 'Tote Congratulates Mr & Mrs Whittle Handicap' over 1m at Musselburgh.
Drawn on the outer, he broke well and with Kevin, looking over his shoulder to watch for the competition, he managed to get him across to take the lead. Shaken up, the tempo was increased over 2f out and he pulled clear inside the final furlong, with Kevin looking behind to see if he was being challenged - the answer was no! He pulled away to win by 2 and a 1/4 lengths.
"Another winner for Middleham Park Racing and it's a Scottish trained one." Watch the full race replay here: https://www.racingtv.com/videos/watch/horse_racing_replays/438263-tote-congratulates-mr-mrs-whittle-handicap-5-d-ii
Timeform rated it as a career best 84 performance, saying: "After 4 months off, proved at least as good as ever to gain a first win in handicap company, helped by having dropped to a career-low mark and also by how things unfolded; dictated, shaken up around 2f out, carried head bit awkwardly, kept on, had the run of the race.”
See the official photo gallery here: https://www.grossick.co.uk/p/80532khg/C385529390/x8-beltane
Sadly, there were no post race interviews on Racing TV.
Syndicate manager Mike says: "On a day when everything was winning off the front end it was an excellent ride from Kevin. He was at pains to get him over on the front end and he then did a great job of stacking them up on the bend. He saw it out well on a day and it was nice to see him get his head in front and always a good sign when a jockey looks over their shoulder in the final furlong to look for any challengers!"
A successful Easter weekend, as we also passed £500,000 of prize money earned so far this year - ahead of 2022, which was a record year, so happy days!