Lucinda Russell’s William Hill blog: Plenty of promise in Primoz

Haydock, Saturday

I’m pretty hopeful Primoz will go close in the Grade 2 Novices’ Hurdle (12.05pm). This is a horse that didn’t really break a sweat at Ayr last time and it was hard not to be impressed by the way he did it. I loved it when Stephen [Mulqueen] let him down, he really accelerated away.

Of course, this is a much better race but I think he deserves a shot at it. He’s very laid back and just does what he needs to and I’ve been very happy with him since Ayr. I wouldn’t want to run him on very bad ground, so as long as Haydock doesn’t get bundles of rain, he should go very well.

Henry Daly’s horse looks a worthy adversary, but I wouldn’t switch our horse for anything in the race.

Apple Away makes her chase debut in the Graduation Chase (1.50pm). She’s been ready to run for a while but conditions just haven’t been right so we’ve had to bide our time with her. She’s a mare that owes us nothing having won that Grade 1 last season at Aintree, however we think there is more to come over fences.

She isn’t the most exuberant of jumpers but she’s clever and I think she might be one who learns on the job. It’s not the ideal starting point but we need to get her out and it should tell us where we stand. She gets plenty of weight from the other runners and I’d be hopeful of a solid opening showing over fences.

I won’t give too much more on Corach Ramber ahead of the Betfair Chase (3.00pm) as I gave a thorough update on Wednesday on him. He’s in great form, though, and we’re looking forward to running him.

Ascot, Saturday 

Down at Ascot, we run Corrigeen Rock in the handicap chase (3.15pm). He was one we didn’t think would jump a fence but has taken to them like a duck to water. His scope and enthusiasm have turned him into a really good two-mile handicapper chaser and this looks another good test for him.

We know he loves it around Sandown and my only slight worry is that he didn’t run at Ascot last season when we tried him around there. We don’t really know where the bottom of him is and that’s never a bad thing with these handicappers.