Lucinda Russell’s William Hill blog: Edinburgh National always the plan for Inis Oirr

William Hill ambassador Lucinda Russell looks ahead to her runners at Musselburgh’s two-day Scottish Cheltenham Trial meeting this weekend as well as giving updates on some of her stable stars.

Musselburgh, Saturday

We’ve got Inis Oirr (2.15pm) in the Edinburgh National Handicap Chase to kick off proceedings on Saturday. He’s only a novice but he’s better right-handed and the longer trip should suit him beautifully – he’s a horse that just stays and stays.

The last time out at Market Rasen he was outpaced but did his best at the end and I’m pretty sure these will be the right conditions for him, and we’ve had this race in mind for him since this time last year!

Cadell (3.25pm) ran a funny race at Cheltenham last time, I think he was a bit overawed by the whole occasion and it was a bit of an odd race. He’s an anxious horse as it is and needs careful handling and the owners have done a really good job giving him the time to get to where he is.

I could tell in the paddock that it wasn’t going to be his day, he was really lit up – it’s great to be enthusiastic but it’s hard to shake off the red mist when it sets in. If I think of Apple Away, she’s so straightforward and there’s never any hassle with her, everything just comes naturally to her. Sometimes the public don’t realise how important it is to have the right people on the ground.

He’s been in very good form and has had plenty of time to get over his run at Cheltenham. Peter [Scudamore] rode him on Friday morning and said he’s just bouncing at the moment so we’re expecting him to run a lot better than he did at Cheltenham. Hopefully 3m around Musselburgh might suit him as it’s a bit closer to home.

We took Readysteadybeau (4.00pm) out of Newcastle this week because he definitely needs good ground but won very nicely at Ayr. We’re taking a bit of a chance with him at this track as he’s not the quickest horse in the world but stays 2m5f really well and I’m sure he’ll stay three miles just fine here. Ground-wise, if he takes to the track he should be able to skip away from the rest of the field.

Musselburgh, Sunday

The one that I really like is Mint Gold (1.50pm) in the 2m handicap chase, I ride him at home, and I think he’s in fabulous order – although he’s in the same race as Bollingerandkrug! We made an error with him last time stepping up to 2m4f and he just didn’t stay, so you can put a line through that run. I think stepping down back to two miles around Musselburgh right-handed is right up his street.

He’s a horse that was off for a long time with a leg injury and then came back winning his first race and, ignoring the mistake with the step up in trip, he feels fantastic at the moment and is one of those horses that adores racing. He hasn’t got many miles on the clock and the conditions will be right for him.

Bollingerandkrug (1.50pm) runs in the same race and is really a Kelso specialist but there’s nothing there for him at the moment, so we thought we’d go to Musselburgh instead. It’s interesting because when we initially tried him over fences it didn’t work so we kept him to hurdles and we got a bit stuck. Derek [Fox] then had to opportunity to school him around Musselburgh and it really was the making of him. It was as if a switch was turned on and that was it, he started winning all of these 2m chases at Kelso!

We’ve then got Corrigeen Rock (3.35pm), who’s another horse that has to go right-handed on slightly better ground, so Musselburgh is a track that’ll really suit him. They’ve pumped a lot of prize money into this race, and it’s become very competitive as a result. He didn’t quite catch the horse out in front last time out but, barring that, he can’t be knocked for his runs this season; he’s run some super races. I think we’ll see him at his best this weekend and it’ll be good to have Derek Fox back in the saddle with a vengeance!

Stable Stars

We’ll be running Giovinco before the Festival, dropping him down in grade in a novice handicap at either Newcastle or Kelso in the middle of February. We just want to give him one more run, he ran a great race at Aintree but there weren’t an awful lot of fences that day.

He also ran really well at Sandown and we were pleased with that but things just didn’t happen for him at Kempton. This run will be half for experience and half for a little confidence boost before Cheltenham. In an ideal world, he’d go to either Newcastle or Kelso and then to Cheltenham for the Brown Advisory.

We were absolutely delighted with Ahoy Senor, it’s such a shame that the leather snapped, some jockeys would have pulled him up but Stephen [Mulqueen] jumped him home. He ran a great race and he’s come out of it really well; we’re just getting him right for Cheltenham. He definitely takes a couple of runs to find himself and prefers the better ground.

Corach Rambler is in extremely good form going up and down the gallops with Peter and we gave him an easy week a couple of weeks back but he’s back in full work now. He’s in great form and all roads lead to the Gold Cup and then the Grand National.