Over £225,000 on offer at Musselburgh for return of Sky Bet Sunday Series

The Sky Bet Sunday Series returns to Musselburgh this weekend (21st April) with over £225,000 in prize money on offer across a seven-race card. Final declarations will be made at the 48-hour stage on Friday, but the opening Sunday Series fixture of the year has attracted 147 entries. 

Although a prolonged wet spell led to the disappointing abandonment of Musselburgh’s popular Easter Saturday fixture, the weather forecast is much more settled for this week, with the going given as Soft (Good to Soft in Places) on Tuesday.

The feature is the concluding The Sky Bet Acca Freeze Handicap (6.45pm), a Class 2 event over five furlongs, with a total prize fund of £75,000. As always, the draw will be of some importance, with high numbers – those closest to the stands’ rail – often advantageous at Musselburgh. 

Middleham Moor trainer Karl Burke is responsible for top-rated Korker, who ventured over to France to make his seasonal reappearance (seventh) in a Listed event at Deauville. However, a potentially more suitable candidate for this competitive 0-105 handicap is his five-year-old stablemate Silky Wilkie who arrives in fine fettle after splitting Blind Beggar and Baldomero at Bath a fortnight ago. 

Silky Wilkie has been raised 2lb since that Bath contest, yet still lurks on his last winning mark of 99. That win came over this C&D last spring, when he readily dispatched twelve other rivals in the Tote World Pool Scottish Sprint Cup, and he is yet to return to Musselburgh since. Later in the same season, the Mehmas gelding went mightily close to winning the Dash at Epsom from a mark of 107, so his chance back here is obvious. Mick Appleby’s Blind Beggar (up 3lb) finished a head in front of Silky Wilkie at Bath and wouldn’t necessarily be inconvenienced by drying ground either. 

Zarzyni has proved difficult to win with in recent times but is rated 17lb lower than when scoring over C&D in April 2022. David and Nicola Barron’s charge possesses rock-solid C&D form figures of 215 - admittedly does have a little work to do with Silky Wilkie from last year’s Scottish Sprint Cup – and has been threatening on the AW at Newcastle over the winter. The cards will surely fall his way again eventually and he certainly didn’t shirk a battle when going down narrowly to Castan at Gosforth Park six weeks ago. 

The North Yorkshire trainer Grant Tuer was crowned leading trainer in the inaugural Sky Bet Sunday Series in 2021, with Lezardrieux landing the spoils in the final fixture at Haydock Park. Tuer, and owner Nick Bradley Racing have two options for Sunday’s feature, with Glorious Angel race-fit after finishing a close fourth in that aforementioned Bath contest, and last year’s Great St Wilfird heroine Sophia’s Starlight also a possible. 

Jack Channon’s Desperate Hero also featured at Bath (sixth, beaten four lengths). He was progressive towards the tail end of his three-year-old season, winning at Newbury and Nottingham, but is yet to score from a mark in the 90’s, so would need to take a further step forward. 

Jim Goldie’s Rock Melody took the feature race on the final day of Flat action at Musselburgh in 2023 and was also third to The Thin Blue Line in this equivalent race (then a Class 3 Handicap) last year. She is one of three candidates for the ever-popular East Renfrewshire trainer. 

Paul Mulrennan is booked to partner new recruit Londoner, formerly with Aidan O’Brien but now in Goldie's team having changed hands for £35,000 at the Tattersalls Newmarket Autumn Sale, while Be Proud is no stranger to Sunday Series glory, having taken a Class 3 Handicap at Sandown back in August 2021. 

Julie Camacho’s Badri hasn’t exactly fired on the All-Weather in recent times, but is a more than capable sprinter, winning three times on turf last season, including in the JRA Tokyo Trophy on Derby Day at Epsom (6f), and at Ascot (5f) in early October. Conversely, John and Sean Quinn’s Jm Jungle arrives off the back of a clearcut success in the Al Sakhir Cup - later disqualified for failing a post-race substance test - which formed the final leg of the Bahrain Turf Series. 

Finally, the County Down trainer Matt Quinn could send Arnhem across the Irish Sea, seeking a share of the prize money. The eight-year-old was successful in a six-furlong apprentices handicap at the Curragh last summer and shaped as if need of his comeback run when weakening into fourth place at Dundalk last month. 

Sunday 19th May - Newmarket 

Sunday 2nd June - Hamilton Park 

Sunday 16th June - Thirsk 

Sunday 4th August - Haydock Park 

Sunday 18th August - Pontefract