Brian Hughes and George Scott's unlikely link-up - Chris Cook's three things to note on Tuesday
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1. Can Hughes get the best out of rare Scott bumper runner?
The name of Newmarket's George Scott is not one we see very often on jumps cards, so it's intriguing to see his Charlie's Numbers being sent for his very first race to Hexham for a small-field bumper. Scott has had a bumper runner before, just one, all of six years ago and she managed to be beaten 81 lengths.
But that was at the outset of the trainer's career and he's had more than 100 winners on the level since then. By Frankel out of a Listed-winning Sea The Stars mare, Charlie's Numbers was not made with bumpers in mind, so there must have been setbacks along the way. But Brian Hughes is booked and it'll be interesting to see what the four-year-old can do.
2. Oisin Murphy flies home for ride on Gatwick Kitten
Oisin Murphy is busy at Wolverhampton tonight, having returned to British action yesterday for the first time in almost a fortnight. Perhaps his most interesting mount is Gatwick Kitten, whose effort was ended by interference at Lingfield three weeks ago when his route along the rail was abruptly cut off.
I don't think he would have won but fifth place understates what he showed that day and perhaps we may see better again tonight as he makes his second start for a new yard, having joined Ed Dunlop from Ali Stronge.
3. Alan Brown looks to keep fine form up at Wolverhampton
Alan Brown's training operation has stepped up a gear or two since the start of last year. He went from 2010 to 2021 without training a double-figure number of winners in a year but got to 15 last year and is already on ten for 2023 at a strike-rate of 20 per cent. He's doing even better in the past fortnight, with three winners from nine.
The North Yorkshire trainer has two at Wolverhampton this evening, Blackcurrent (beaten a length on his last visit) and Embla, who scored at Southwell a fortnight ago.
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