ENGLISHMAN’S victory at Chelmsford last Friday has extended Milton Bradley’s fine beginning to the season.

The ten-year-old gelding was winning for the second time in a row when he collared his former stablemate Indian Affair in the final hundred yards of a six-furlong dash. That’s the third time in his career that he has come first in two races in a row (he’d won at Lingfield a fortnight earlier), but be wary when he next runs; not since his three-year-old days has he finished in the frame in three consecutive races.

Indian Affair, another ten-year-old, had won ten of his 141 races when owned and trained by Bradley and had finished second or third in 43 other starts. It had been a year since he won and the trainer’s thinking was presumably that a change of scene would do him good. He was sold to the wife of trainer Charlie Wallis and his Chelmsford second was his best run since that last win.

It was Bradley’s fourth win this year, which matches the number of winners he had in the whole of 2018. Last year they scooped nine successes, six of which were down to the prolific Muraaqeb. He won again at the beginning of this month and was due to run at Chelmsford on Tuesday afternoon.

Other local trainers have been hitting the crossbar. Equally Fast has been running well for Ron Harris since the turn of the year, winning once and latterly finishing second last week at Wolverhampton. Bernard Llewellyn’s mare Shadow’s Girl was made favourite at Plumpton on Monday in the hope she could recapture the form she showed when winning at Chepstow in November, only to find one too good for her.

The Welsh National winner Potters Corner is going to run in a 75,000 euros hurdle at Auteuil on 7 March as preparation for his attempt to win the Grand National. Soft going is guaranteed at France’s premier jumps track. This should put Christian Williams’ stable star spot on for the Aintree spectacular on Saturday, 4 April.

His stable companion Limited Reserve, who won a gruelling race at Sandown a week and a half ago, is being aimed at another contest at Liverpool on National day. There’s also a meeting at Chepstow that day, with live music after the races. More immediately, tickets are on sale in advance for just £10 for their fixture on Saturday week, the 22nd, where spectators will be able to follow the Wales versus France Six Nations game during and after racing.

Members of the Grace Harris Racing Club have been having fun with Karakoram, who finished third at Warwick on Saturday. His form figures this season (3135223) show that he nearly always gives them a good run for their money. The flip side of that is that the handicapper has him in his grip. It might be worth stepping him up to two and a half miles to see if that would conjure up any more improvement.

The horse being leased by the Chepstow and Ffos Las Racing Club won on only his second start for them at Uttoxeter on Saturday. Baboin, trained by Tim Vaughan and ridden by Charlie Price, had been beaten 38 lengths on his first outing for the club after six months off. Improvement was highly likely after that, and those that kept faith with him were rewarded when he won at odds of 5/1. The club was originally intended to operate until the end of April, but this win will surely encourage members to seek an extension. Shares in the horse are still available.