Lucinda Russell’s William Hill blog: Edinburgh National weekend preview

William Hill ambassador Lucinda Russell previews her weekend runners at Musselburgh, where the Edinburgh National takes centre stage on Sunday.

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Saturday, Musselburgh

We start off the two-day meeting at Musselburgh with Johnny Ringo in the Scottish Triumph Hurdle (1.42pm). He loves it around the track and I do think he’s a very good horse, but he has to go out and prove it. We’re throwing him in the deep end somewhat, but he may well end up being a big price as a result of that, so he could be an each-way pick.

Old Gregorian is in the Scottish County Hurdle (2.17pm) and he’s really a horse we’re aiming at the Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso. Kelso is really his best track, and so he’ll probably need a career best on Saturday to be competitive, but the ground will be in his favour.

Corrigeen Rock defends his title in the Scottish Champion Chase (2.50pm). He’ll probably be up against it given he’s out of form at the minute. On the other hand, Traprain Law is in great order and is a horse I really like for this. His run in the Desert Orchid was really good and I’d say he’s got a great chance.

Bold Light has been a fabulous horse for us and he goes in the Scottish Stayers’ Hurdle (3.22pm). He steps up in trip after winning over an intermediate trip last time out. This is tricky race but he might well have a nice chance. If he improves for going up to three miles as much as he did when he stepped up to two-and-a-half, he could be one to watch.

Sunday, Musselburgh

Evaluation is a cracking horse who’s in the Scottish Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (1.22pm). We made the mistake last time out of running him over the wrong trip. This good ground and two miles should be right up his street. We’re hopeful he can give a good account of himself.

Choose A Copper gets a load of weight off his rivals in the Frodon Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase (1.55pm) and I’d keep an eye on him. There are a few raiders from the south coming up for this prize, and so they’re likely to take a good bit of beating, but they’re having to shoulder a lot more than our guy, so we’d like to think he’ll go well.

The Edinburgh National (2.25pm) is a race we love and we run two in the race this year. Inis Oirr will love conditions and we’re hoping the change from visor to blinkers will bring out some improvement. This is his sort of race as he loves it around the track and the distance is perfect. He’s rock solid. Cadell has a different type of profile, coming to the race as a young and improving sort. We’ve given him plenty of time off since his last run, when we were pleased with his effort against some smart novices. He’d be one who’d have Scottish National pretensions, so we’ll see how he gets on over the trip here.

Idem is a horse we’ve always liked, but has taken a little bit of time to take to handicapping. He did well to win last time out at Kelso, and he goes in a Pertemps Qualifier (3.00pm). We’d like to think he can run well here with a view to stepping up to take his chance at the Cheltenham Festival. It’s a big aim, but you’ve got to be in it to win it!

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