MOOREOVERTHEBRIDGE was a 50/1 winner for Grace Harris at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening.

The five-year-old mare was having her first start for five months. She made a lot of the running and hung on grimly to come out best in a blanket finish.

Speaking to the Racing Post, Harris said: “She had two wins on the turf very quickly, and I probably rushed her too much when she was growing. "She lost her way a bit towards the back end of the season so I gave her a nice break.” It obviously did the trick.

Bafflingly, the Post commented that the mare “wouldn't be an obvious one to follow up”, even though she won two consecutive races last May. Harris will be hoping that Boutan, third for them at 50/1 ten days ago, will be able to build on that at Uttoxeter on Saturday.

The trainer has news of her now 16-year-old veteran Paddy The Oscar. “He is great and bouncing, but we are just waiting for proper soft ground to come, as he didn’t handle Warwick’s good to soft last time.”

Ron Harris’ productive run of winter form from not that many runners continues. His Union Rose was another Welsh winner on Saturday’s Wolverhampton card. He’d been rated as high as 97 in 2016, but he was running off 70 this time. The trainer said after the race: “On his day Union Rose is a very good horse but he's been in and out.

"We'll keep going until he tells us he needs a break then we'll bring him back for the grass.”

He is certainly difficult to catch right, for although he has won six of his 54 outings he’s never managed two in a row.

Riding him was David Probert, who has made an excellent start to the year with 11 winners already.

At Lingfield last week Brockey Rise won his fourth race for David Evans. He’s run 33 times since May 2017 but, like many of the trainer’s horses, seems to thrive on it. Two days later a filly having just her second run for the yard, Not So Shy, turned in the best performance of her career by finishing a head second at the same track. Evans is sure to get a win out of her before too long.

Milton Bradley is without a winner in eight months, but some of his runners are knocking at the door and Yfenni might be worth a look at Lingfield on Friday.

Deborah Faulkner sent Chepstow specialist Beallandendall all the way up to Sedgefield on Monday, and booked the champion jockey Richard Johnson. Frustratingly, the long journey only yielded third place behind another Welsh runner, Tim Vaughan’s Briac.

Chepstow’s meeting on Friday began with delight for the bookies, as a 50/1 shot won the first race. Normality was resumed half an hour later when the favourite, Lisnagar Oscar, hung on to win a novice hurdle. Trained by Rebecca Curtis, he’d run well in a bumper on the course in October and shown good form since.

The three-mile novice chase was a high quality race. The joint favourite Chef Des Obeaux hadn’t made a move when he came down four out and Now McGinty was able to make all the running. He jumped well, though often a little to the right. The runner-up, Evan Williams’ De Rasher Counter, was beaten six lengths while conceding six pounds, which makes the pair equal in ability. Chepstow’s next meeting is on Friday 1 February.