John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Friday.<\/p>\n
Charlie Mason hard to beat for top all-weather yard<\/p>\n
Tony Carroll enjoyed another personal-best year in 2025, sending out 128 winners and breaking the million-pound barrier in prize money for the first time. Those winners were split 72-56 between the all-weather and turf, and in fact no trainer had more all-weather winners than Carroll during the year.<\/p>\n
This is very much the stable\u2019s time of year, therefore, with Carroll having the \u2018Hot Trainer<\/a>\u2019 flag, and he picked up a good prize at Chelmsford in December with Justcallmepete winning more than \u00a320,000 for landing the Timeform Sprint Series Final in a tight finish. Close behind in fifth was stablemate Charlie Mason<\/a> who should be hard to beat dropping back in grade for an apprentice handicap over the same course and distance (12:42<\/a>).<\/p>\n Hardly out of the frame in a busy campaign last year which brought him three wins, including an apprentice race at the St Leger meeting, Charlie Mason was a good second in a qualifier for the Timeform Sprint Series and then earned the \u2018Horse In Focus<\/a>\u2019 flag in the Final. He would have finished closer still had he been granted a clearer run a furlong out, and he can gain some compensation here in this lower grade.<\/p>\n Well-bred Wilstar worth another chance<\/p>\n As a half-brother to top-class chasers Douvan and Jonbon, expectations for the Olly Murphy-trained Wilstar<\/a> have been understandably high. Winning his second start in bumpers last spring at Perth (from Sleedagh, who runs in the previous race on the card) did nothing to dampen those hopes, so Wilstar\u2019s first run over hurdles came as a disappointment.<\/p>\n That was at Newbury in November when he clearly wasn\u2019t right, trailing home last of the eight finishers in what has proved a strong maiden hurdle. Winner Captain Hugo has won again since, and the third and fourth have also gone on to win races. This similar event at Ayr (13:00<\/a>) should prove an easier task for Wilstar, though French import Locquirec sets a fair standard as he was a close-up third at Auteuil on his last start.<\/p>\n Wilstar has undergone a breathing operation since Newbury and is also fitted with a tongue strap for the first time so it\u2019s not hard to see him leaving his debut effort over hurdles a long way behind here for his \u2018Hot Trainer\u2019 and Sean Bowen.<\/p>\n Shorter trip to suit free-going Al Rufaa<\/p>\n Al Rufaa<\/a> has just turned nine but Daniel & Claire Kubler\u2019s veteran is on a very attractive mark these days and he can end a frustrating losing sequence in Wolverhampton\u2019s handicap over an extended mile (19:00<\/a>).<\/p>\n His last win came over the same course and distance back in late-2023 but he has been placed numerous times since, including when twice finishing runner-up over a slightly longer trip at Wolverhampton in the autumn, beaten just a head on the first occasion. The handicapper has cut him some slack, however, and he\u2019s now racing from 1 lb lower than when suffering that narrow defeat.<\/p>\n Al Rufaa tends to race freely, and that was especially the case last time when he tore off in front at Kempton over eleven furlongs but was headed over a furlong out before finishing fifth behind Wyld Bill. The drop back in trip should ensure that Al Rufaa\u2019s enthusiasm is channelled more effectively here and, being 3 lb clear in the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings, he\u2019s capable of a bold bid with Callum Rodriguez taking over in the saddle for the first time.<\/p>\n Safer gambling<\/p>\n We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.<\/p>\n If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline \/ GamCare<\/a> on 0808 8020 133.<\/p>\n Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org<\/a> and gamblingtherapy.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Friday. Charlie Mason hard to beat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-222997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}