After the remnants of Storm Ciara swept away the recent meetings at Ayr and Kelso, some 122 horses have been entered for the extra fixture put on at short notice by the BHA for Musselburgh on Tuesday.

 

A big pat on the back must go to all concerned as such cards help to satisfy a need for the horse population when the weather intervenes.

 

And it’s not just Scottish and Northern trainers that are grateful for the newly installed meeting, as I see Paul Nicholls has plenty of entries, fresh from his handsome haul of five winners at the East Lothian venue’s Scottish Cheltenham Trials weekend.

 

It was also the week when the weights for the Randox Health Grand National on April 4th were revealed and interest from this region focussed on Lake View Lad and One For Arthur.

 

The former, trained by Nick Alexander, has been allotted 10st 8lbs while Lucinda Russell’s One For Arthur is on 10st 2lbs due to his official rating now slipping to 148 which is the exact same mark he won off back in 2017.

 

Incidentally last year’s Scottish National hero Takingrisks, trained by Nicky Richards, is also being targeted at the Aintree marathon and he has been given 10st 1lb or a mark of 147 which is 12lbs higher than he scored off at Ayr in April 2019.

 

The Northern Lights Finals, which this year, will form part of the Go North Weekend, starts at Musselburgh on Friday 20th March, then Kelso on Saturday 21st before concluding at Carlisle on Sunday 22nd. 

 

The Go North Weekend is three days of racing and behind-the-scenes access and is part of an initiative to boost jump racing in the North led by the BHA and Great British Racing and sponsored by the Racing Post. 

 

A total of £400,000 is prize money is on offer across the three participating fixtures with local trainers opening their yards to the public on the morning of each meeting.

 

It promises to be a tremendous trio of fixtures and you can purchase a ticket for all three days from any of the courses involved. 

 

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