Richardson and McCain chasing £20,000 award

1.55 Haydock
Betfred Haydock Park Ladies' Trophy Handicap | 1m4f | 3yo+ | ITV4/RUK

A dozen riders are set to go to post for the second running of the £20,000 Haydock Park Ladies' Trophy and for two of them the search for victory carries extra importance.

After winning on Carlisle's all-girls card on Monday night, Rachel Richardson and Abbie McCain are eligible for a £20,000 development award provided by Jockey Club Racecourses, something achieved by Emma Sayer last year.

Richardson, who was the only other rider in the reckoning for the prize 12 months ago, finished last on Dance King but is confident of an improved performance as she again join forces with the Tim Easterby-trained seven-year-old.

"Hopefully he'll go better this year. He's in better form and won nicely at Carlisle last time," she said. "He goes there in good spirits and won't mind the ground."

Regarding the bonus, Richardson added: "It's a fantastic prize and Haydock is one of my favourite tracks as I won the apprentice training series there.

"I'd love to go abroad for a few weeks, somewhere like America, to learn more and improve myself."

McCain, who was planning on joining younger sister Ella in a similar – if a lot less valuable – race on Ayr's evening card, is relishing the opportunity after getting the late call-up to replace Hollie Doyle on the Julie Camacho-trained Swaheen.

"It's a great spare ride to pick up and it would be lovely to win the award but I'm not getting ahead of myself and I'm just concentrating on the race," said the 17-year-old daughter of trainer Donald McCain.

"I've grown up going to Haydock as it's our local track and I had my first ride there recently. I've not ridden the horse before but he has some good back form and hopefully the rain will come as that will suit him down to the ground."

What they say

Tom Dascombe, trainer of Azari and Caponova
I'm not quite sure Azari stays. He ran nicely in a couple of ladies' races at York before bombing out last time. We've given him a break and are trying cheekpieces and he should run well. Caponova has won four times at the course and we're stepping him up in trip a little bit. Anna Hesketh, who works for me, has chosen to ride him.

Paul Nicholls, trainer of Zubayr
He was supposed to go to Galway but trod on a stone at the start of that week and was lame. He's 100 per cent sound and this was the obvious place to go. He has a nice handicap mark and Megan [Nicholls] gets a good tune of out him, so he should give her a great ride.

Mick Appleby, trainer of Shamrokh
He didn't run too badly at Ascot last time on bottomless ground and conditions should be fine for him. He should have no problem getting the trip.

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