Musselburgh option for Rasharrow

Rasharrow, third in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham last March, is a possible for Musselburgh on Friday.

He holds an entry in the Laura Todd Agent Of The Month Novices’ Hurdle and his trainer Len Lungo is hoping the rain holds off so that he can get a run into his exciting novice.

“He’s entered at Musselburgh on Friday and he is a possible runner,” said Lungo. “We’re giving it some thought. We wanted to run on good ground but that doesn’t look likely at this stage.”

With wet weather prevalent all over the country, Lungo does not even currently have the option of taking him south from his Carrutherstown base for a run.

“There doesn’t seem much point in dragging him 300 miles south to somewhere like Wincanton which is a sharp right-handed track when that is exactly what Musselburgh is,” he said.

Rasharrow did win on soft ground at Ayr on his last racecourse appearance but Lungo says the seven-year-old is much better suited to good ground.

“We want to avoid running the horse on the heavy ground because everyone who has sat on him is convinced he wants good ground,” he said.

“All we want to do is get him fit for the Cheltenham meeting with a little bit more experience and we hope to arrive with a horse at Cheltenham who is fresh and well and one who has not had the guts dragged out of him by racing on the wrong ground.

“If he doesn’t run on Friday his next option is back at Musselburgh for a 0-140 handicap on February 5 which we won last year with Silvertown.

“Cheltenham is such a hurly-burly place so a run in a handicap could serve him well. On the other hand it might catch Rasharrow by surprise. If he came out of that race well he will have learnt a lot. I know it’s in at the deep end (a 0-140 with a novice) but with him rated 127 I haven’t got a big list of options, so I might further his education there.

“I’d like to run him somewhere before Cheltenham but running a horse on heavy ground when he likes to float on the top would really gut him.”

Lungo was quick to praise the owners, Ashleybank Investments Limited for their patience though.

“The owners understand,” said Lungo. “They’ve been in the game a long time and we just want to get him to Cheltenham fresh and well but we’d like to educate him a bit if we get half a chance.

“His debut over hurdles now looks better than it did at the time. The bubble can burst at any time with horses but at the moment the wheels are still on.”