Borders racehorse trainer Katie Scott hoping 14-hour-plus round trip to Surrey pays off

The three-year-old grey filly is one of 16 entries for the opening Win With Zyn 3yo Dash Handicap over five furlongs, with five-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy set to ride her.

The 1.30pm race, offering a top prize of £38,655, is the three-year-old equivalent of Saturday’s Epsom Dash, billed as the world’s fastest sprint race.

Naana’s Shadow has certainly shown plenty of speed in her seven-race career so far, winning at Catterick in North Yorkshire in April before finishing third at York last month.

Though she’s facing a seven-hour drive going south of the border, Scott is keeping her fingers crossed that it pays off.

“She’s in really good form," she said. “We’ve been really impressed with everything she’s done since she’s come to us.

“A slight concern would be if we get a lot more rain as she’s untested on that and it would be a question mark, but we’re going down hopeful of a big run.

“She’s got a lot of raw speed and she showed she can handle a big field last time.

“She’s very straightforward and was really well bought by the owners. They picked her up in an online sale at the end of the year for £20,000. I know that’s a lot of money, but when you’re buying racehorses, it’s modest.

“Jason Hart would be our first call on days like this, but his boss has called him to go to Doncaster. Oisin rode a winner for us and the same owners at York last summer, so it seemed logical to get the best man on board.

“We’re leaving first thing today, so she’s down with 24 hours before the race to relax.

“We took a horse down a couple of years ago and we were so well looked after by the team at Epsom, so it’s exciting to go back because we really enjoyed it last time.

“It’s fantastic for the owners to have a runner on such a big day.

“It’s a long way to go. I’d say we’ll be OK going down but the M6 may not be much fun coming home on a Friday. Hopefully we’re returning with a good run under our belts and we’ll be happy.”

Scott enjoyed her best season to date last year, sending out a career-high tally of 20 winners from her team of 21 horses, and she says her emphasis is now on driving up the quality of runners under her care at her Lindean yard.

“We had a great season last year,” she said.

“We haven’t had as many winners this year but we’re only a small yard and we’ve had two listed fillies who have both got black type, so that’s been great for us.

“The statistics don’t look great at the minute but we’ve got a better quality of horse, which is nice – 21 horses in training and full.”