More From Evan Williams Yard

Evan Williams will have no hesitation in pitching West With The Wind and William's Wishes into top company this weekend - but the weather could still spoil his plans.

The pair are entered in the Kingmaker Novices' Chase at Warwick and, more ambitiously, the totepool Game Spirit Chase at Newbury after putting together good sequences.

"I'm very keen to run them but it all depends on the ground and I might not run either if it's too soft," said the trainer.

William's Wishes is unbeaten in three starts over fences but must now move beyond minor novice events at Leicester, Ludlow and Hereford, while West With The Wind has not been seen since completing a Ffos Las hat-trick in the summer.

The trainer went on: "I really want to run William's Wishes against some serious opposition so I can help evaluate where he stands. If he didn't run this weekend I would probably take him to the Grand Annual at Cheltenham.

"The key to West With The Wind is the ground. He needs it to be good, and I wouldn't want to run him on anything worse than good to soft. So we'll have to see how the week develops."

The pair are both entered in the Arkle and the Jewson at the Cheltenham Festival.

Brian Doing The Rain Dance!

Brian Ellison would like to see plenty of rain for Bothy at Newbury in time for the totesport Trophy on Saturday.

The five-year-old ran a fine race on his only start over timber this winter when second to Menorah in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in November. He did not fare too well on the all-weather at Southwell since, but Ellison has drawn a line through that effort.

"The more rain the better for him. He loves soft ground, he's in great form and I'm very hopeful," the North Yorkshire handler told At The Races.

"His second to Menorah in the Greatwood must be the best handicap form around. Menorah's a very good horse and we're looking forward to Saturday if we get the rain.

"We ran him in a bumper race at Southwell but he didn't like the sand in his face, but we had to run him as he was so well. We didn't want to wait until February to get the freshness out of him. He loves jumping."


Ellison also plans to saddle Palomar for Newbury's valuable prize after he finished third in the Lanzarote Hurdle.

"I run Palomar as well. He did a fantastic bit of work on Saturday. He's never let me down since we bought him. He'll go on any ground," he added.

Ayr Off!

This afternoon's meeting at Ayr has been abandoned due to waterlogging following 23 millimetres of rain overnight.

The unexpected rainfall on already saturated ground led to conditions being unraceable.

Clerk of the course Emma Marley said: "A heavy band of rain meant we were unlucky and caught nearly an inch of rain - yet Prestwick down the road only got 10 millimetres. It has left the ground unraceable and it is still raining now."

Two For The "Short List" On Saturday From Evan Williams Yard

Evan Williams is pinning his hopes on an improvement in the weather having a positive effect on Barizan when he lines-up for the William Hill Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos Las on Saturday.

Barizan showed his best in the spring last season, finishing second in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham and winning the Champion Four Year Old Hurdle at Punchestown.

He has been well beaten in all his four starts so far this term but with spring not too far away now, Williams has reason to believe Barizan might be ready for a revival.

"It's a difficult situation with him because the Triumph Hurdle doesn't look like it's working out very well," the Llancarfan trainer told At The Races.

"The form looks particularly poor in the context of everything that's run since in that race apart from perhaps Alaivan of Edward O'Grady's but we'll go there, give it a shout and see how we get on.

"The thing is he is a different horse in the spring and that's the whole point. It was only two weeks before Cheltenham he started to bloom last year and it really was an extreme change.

"He looked to get better from Cheltenham and probably his best run was in Punchestown so we'll go there, give him a run and then hopefully as the spring progresses he will appreciate a bit of warmth and hopefully he'll start to bloom a bit."

He is also hoping to pick up some prize-money when Siberian Tiger makes his debut for the Llancarfan trainer in the totesport 0800 221 221 Contenders Hurdle at Sandown on Saturday.

Williams is pleased there will only be a handful of runners, though they will be a talented bunch headed by Binocular, as he is keen to get the former Michael Wigham inmate on the track.

"He's a nice horse that should be running in handicaps. That is the way we'll probably go," Williams told At The Races.

"We've done a lot of schooling over fences with him so we'll bide our time and that's where he could go in the spring.

"There's a chance of a few pound prize-money and it's somewhere nice to start.

"It's not ideal - a handicap would be a better route - but it will be a small field and it makes sense to have a run round there."