Bridgend-based handler Christian Williams has already scooped the Welsh National at Chepstow during his relatively short career in the training ranks, and he heads to Scotland this weekend with two strong chances of taking Ayr 's highlight with Kitty’s Light and Win My Wings.
The former has been the ante-post favourite with the bookmakers for some time and caught the eye when running well behind stablemate Cap Du Nord in a valuable race at Kempton last month.
Williams reported: “He’s in good form and we’re looking forward to him. We didn’t want to step him up in trip over the winter on soft ground and we wanted to save it until nice ground at this time of the year. Hopefully the weather forecast looks to be on our side.”
Win My Wings is no after-thought by any stretch of the imagination and the mare arrives at Ayr as the winner of the Eider Chase at Newcastle over an extended four miles.
The trainer said: “The handicapper has been a bit harsh by putting her up 6lbs for winning when she was already 2lbs well in so she’s 8lbs higher on Saturday which won’t be easy for a small mare. She is in good heart and runs well at this time of year.
“That was a first try for her over a marathon trip in the Eider and I’d hope there would still be some improvement from that.”
Williams has assembled a select squad for the two-day meeting and has chances outside of the feature race.
Stringtoyourbow will appear on Friday and is likely to go chasing in time. He outperformed expectations last time out over hurdles and the trainer believes the five-year-old could potentially be well handicapped.
Groom D’Oudairies holds entries for three races across the Festival but his preferred target is the ‘Hands and Heels Finale’ for Conditional riders.
Though a maiden at present, Williams believes that the horse may need good ground and should provide an opportunity for his owner to have two runners at a high profile meeting.
