Nick Alexander enjoyed another memorable afternoon at one of his “lucky” tracks as he saddled four of the seven winners at Ayr on Wednesday.

The Kinneston handler is a regular visitor to the winner’s circle at the Scottish venue and has trained more winners at Ayr than at any course across the length and breadth of Britain.

He made a flying start to the track’s latest fixture, with point-to-point recruit Ozzy Cosmo (14-1) making a successful debut under rules under Bruce Lynn in the curtain-raising novices’ hurdle, a victory which set the tone for a profitable day.

“I hoped they would run well, but I thought the ground might be a bit soft to be honest. It’s very good of them to put on an extra fixture and I’m delighted,” said Alexander.

“I had a five-timer at Ayr once and it seems to be a lucky racecourse for us. I just love bringing horses here because it’s a such a big, fair track and it is reasonably local to us.

“I’m over the moon really, the day couldn’t have gone better.”

Following Ozzy Cosmo’s success, Alexander swiftly doubled up with 9-1 shot Beat The Retreat, whose rider Danny McMenamin also steered the trainer’s Cream Of The West (9-2) to victory later on the card.

The four-timer was completed by the Sean Quinlan-ridden Artic Row, who obliged at 2-1 in the penultimate race.

Alexander added: “Ozzy Cosmo is a very nice and we just hoped he’d run well. It wasn’t the deepest novice and he’s won it nicely. He’s going to be a three-mile chaser if he’s lucky, so we’re delighted he’s been able to win over two miles over hurdles.

“Beat The Retreat was a little disappointing last time, but it was very deep ground at Kelso that day and it was two-mile-six, whereas today he was back to two-mile-two on slightly better ground.

“The form of Cream Of The West’s last race at Hexham (finished third) has worked out very well, so we were delighted to see him get off the mark, and Artic Row has improved for the step up in trip and fences, which is great.

“They were all sort of entitled to win if everything fell right, but I thought we were going to have a winner or two at Musselburgh earlier in the week and we were nowhere near it, so it’s swings and roundabouts.”

Nicky Richards is on weather watch with Florida Dreams ahead of a possible tilt at top honours in Aintree’s William Hill Formby Novices’ Hurdle on Boxing Day.

If given the go-ahead for the newly-created festive Grade One, it would mean a return to the scene of the five-year-old’s finest hour, and the place where he kept on gamely to land the Grade Two bumper that concludes the Grand National Festival in the spring.

Since then, the Jimmy Fyffe-owned gelding tasted defeat on his hurdling bow at Ayr, but the Greystoke handler had his charge firing on all cylinders when returning to the Scottish venue to open his account over obstacles earlier this month.

On that occasion, he reeled in David Pipe’s Phantomofthepoints to score by a neck and Richards believes that could turn out to be a smart piece of form.

He said: “The plan is to go to Aintree and I hope they have a dry week. If it does get too soft, he probably won’t go, but we’ll see how the week goes with the weather and take it from there.

“Hopefully, it (the bumper) won’t be the last Graded race he wins and the journey is only beginning with him – I’m quite sure he is going to make into a very good horse.

“He got the job done (at Ayr) and I would say there is no doubt David Pipe’s horse is probably not a bad horse as well. We will find out in the future, but my lad is a horse with a lot of ability and I hope he goes on to prove it.”

The Aintree race, which was formerly run as the Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown, has attracted a strong cast of 14 entries, with Gordon Elliott’s Royal Bond scorer Farren Glory a notable name that could be given a raiding mission.

Only a nose separated Nicky Henderson’s Jango Baie and Ben Pauling’s Tellherthename when they clashed at Ascot and, with the latter impressing subsequently, connections will be eyeing turning the tables in this Grade One event.

Fergal O’Brien’s Kamsinas will look to supplement his Haydock Grade Two victory with a perfect Christmas present up at the highest level, while Chepstow scorer Jackpot D’Athou could represent champion trainer Paul Nicholls.

Favour And Fortune has appeared a classy operator and is now deemed ready for the next level by Alan King, with Paul Robson keen to gauge Cannock Park’s true ability after a taking success at Cheltenham in November.

A continental feel to the race is added by French challenger July Flower, with the four-year-old set to represent trainer Mickael Seror.

Nicky Henderson is looking forward to putting a frustrating period behind him by belatedly taking the wraps off Constitution Hill and Shishkin at Kempton on Boxing Day.

The superstar duo have not been seen in competitive action so far this season and, not for the first time, the Seven Barrows handler has drawn criticism from some quarters for his cautious approach.

There have, though, been extenuating circumstances on both counts, with Constitution Hill’s intended defence of the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle scuppered by the weather, and Shishkin even getting to the start of Ascot’s 1965 Chase, only to dig his heels in and refuse to jump off with the other runners.

Henderson subsequently entered and declared his top-class pair for a rescheduled Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Sandown – and while the decision to withdraw both on account of testing conditions left many disappointed, the trainer insists with Constitution Hill in particular, it was a straightforward call.

“You couldn’t run at Sandown and Kempton. It was physically not possible,” Henderson said at a media morning at his yard on Tuesday.

“You knew straight away you were going to have to sacrifice one race for the other and we decided we would stick to the original plan.

“I wasn’t going to put him in at Sandown until the very last minute. I had already said to Michael (Buckley, owner) ‘I don’t think this will work’, but he said ‘let’s see’.

“You could not have possibly run in both races and that is what some people fail to understand. That is the only thing I find frustrating.

“Of course, it is frustrating when you drag him all the way to Newcastle and back again. That was bad luck. That was the original plan and that is where he would have been, and we would have been on the same leg as last year – unfortunately, we are not.”

While Constitution Hill’s preparation for a bid to claim back-to-back Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle wins has not gone entirely to plan, Henderson is confident the lack of a recent run will not be a hindrance.

He is, though, keen to see how the six-year-old performs before considering plans beyond Christmas.

Henderson added: “He was ready for Newcastle, and he is ready for Kempton.

“We have got to get out there and he has got to go through the motions. He has got to be as good as he ever was at Kempton, then we can look forward.

“He could go to Kempton, then Cheltenham for the International Hurdle, which they have stuck in on Trials Day, then Cheltenham (for the Champion Hurdle) and then Aintree.

“He won’t go to Ireland then (for the Dublin Racing Festival), definitely not, but I won’t look forward until Kempton is over.”

While much is made of Constitution Hill’s apparently bombproof temperament, the same cannot be said at this stage of his stablemate Shishkin following his much publicised refusal in Berkshire last month.

Henderson, however, insists that while the nine-year-old has his quirks, his behaviour tends to improve as the season progresses.

He said: “Constitution Hill is the A, B, C of training horses and you point him in the right direction. He is very straightforward, as he has got a very good temperament.

“Shishkin is very straightforward, but the early part of the season with him is probably the most difficult. That was a bit to do with what happened at Ascot.

“When he is fresh, he is a bit of a plonker! I sent him to Zara Tindall to go and do some work with her. It was good condition and dressage work to get some manners on him and get the basics done. I think he really enjoyed it.

“He doesn’t enjoy that bit here early on and I don’t know why. He can be stroppy. Once he has had a run, he is completely the opposite. He is putty in our hands.”

As a six-time Grade One and dual Cheltenham Festival winner, Shishkin’s raw ability is not in question, but Henderson feels he faces an almighty task to win the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase on what will ultimately be his first start since impressing at Aintree in the spring.

“I’ve been saying all along I don’t see how you can win a King George without a race and the answer is you can’t. On the other hand, we have got nowhere else to go, as there isn’t another race until the Cotswold Chase,” Henderson went on.

“If I ran him at Sandown in the Fighting Fifth, I would have bottomed him and he wouldn’t go to the King George, so therefore I had to take him home and run him straight in.

“He has been going, for him, really well, and his schooling the other morning was fantastic. I’m not going to sit here and tell you he can win a King George, but I do think he can run very well.

“The trouble with Kempton is that some people think it is an easy three miles because it is flat and fast and there are no hills, but there isn’t a place where they can take a blow or have a breather. You jump, jump, jump, then go flat out around a bend, then go jump, jump, jump. It is all go, go, go.

“We have got to have a go, as we have no other option. We have got to Christmas and he hasn’t had a run, but that is not his fault and I don’t think it is mine either, as we have been trying.”

On his plans to try to avoid a repeat of his Ascot antics, the trainer added: “George (Daly) will go down to the start with him, as he knows him really well.

“We can’t do anything. Charlie Brooks mentioned a hunting horn, but Barney (Clifford, clerk of the course) won’t let me get up a tree and blow it!”

Allaho, Gerri Colombe and last year’s winner Bravemansgame are among eight confirmations for the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.

Willie Mullins sprang a surprise in the race two years ago with Tornado Flyer but that was his first triumph in the race since Florida Pearl in 2001 and in Allaho he has strong claims of a second success in three years.

A dual Ryanair Chase winner, Allaho was being aimed at the three-mile contest last year but picked up an injury which ruled him out of the whole campaign. He returned to action with a win in the Clonmel Oil Chase.

Gerri Colombe has only met with defeat once in his career, at last season’s Cheltenham Festival behind The Real Whacker, and the two are on course to clash again.

Only a short head separated them there but their fortunes have differed wildly since, with Gerri Colombe winning two Grade Ones at Aintree and Down Royal, while The Real Whacker was pulled up in the Paddy Power Gold Cup – having struck into himself.

Paul Nicholls’ Bravemansgame has yet to win a race since his victory 12 months ago. He went out on his shield in the Cheltenham Gold Cup but has been surprisingly beaten in the Charlie Hall and Betfair Chase this season.

He will be joined by stable companion Frodon, winner of the race in 2020.

Shishkin is the unknown quantity in the field after refusing to start at Ascot recently. He proved his stamina for three miles at Aintree in the spring but the lack of a recent run is a concern for his trainer Nicky Henderson.

Shark Hanlon’s Hewick and Venetia Williams’ Royal Pagaille, winner of the Betfair Chase, complete the eight.

Constitution Hill will face a maximum of five rivals in the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle.

The best National Hunt horse in training will be making his seasonal bow, with his intended comeback in the Fighting Fifth frozen off before Henderson deemed the ground too soft a week later when it was rearranged at Sandown.

His stablemate First Street, Black Poppy and Nemean Lion, both trained by Kerry Lee, Nicholls’ Rubaud and the veteran Sceau Royal are his only possible rivals.

The Ladbrokes Kauto Star Novices’ Chase is due to feature the UK debut of Il Est Francais, trained by Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm in France.

However, he faces far from an easy task, with Nicholls’ Hermes Allen, Gordon Elliott’s Imagine, the Mullins pair of Grangeclare West and Klassical Dream and Lucinda Russell’s Giovinco all potential rivals among nine entries.

Warren Greatrex views this weekend’s Betfred Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock as an ideal opportunity to get Bill Baxter up the weights ahead of his ultimate aim back on Merseyside.

The Lambourn handler sees the grey as the perfect type for the Grand National, perhaps not surprisingly given how well he took to the fences when winning the Topham back in April.

However, with the field for the National reduced to 34 this season, competition for places will be hotter than ever and Greatrex feels his current handicap mark of 140 needs to be higher to guarantee a spot.

“The plan has always been the Grand National and he probably needs to go up at least 7lb between now and when the weights are released, so the Tommy Whittle looks a good opportunity to try to get him up the weights,” the trainer said.

“The ground is soft, heavy in places, with more rain to come this week, so it will be tough conditions. I think the track will suit him, as he has run well around Haydock Park before over hurdles and he seems in good form.

“He will be put in the Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby on Boxing Day, but I’m favouring the Tommy Whittle.

“It looks the place to go with the ground set to be in his favour – and with everything happening a bit slower in soft ground around Haydock, I would like to think he will be thereabouts at the end.”

Another reason Greatrex is favouring Haydock is the availability of jockey James Bowen.

“James has ridden him a fair amount and has won twice on him. He knows him and knows what he can do. James is a big part of the team now and is riding everything when he is available,” said Greatrex.

“It works well him being second jockey to Nicky (Henderson) and first jockey to us. He is a huge asset and to have him on board on Saturday would be huge.

“If I go to Wetherby, there are a lot more meetings on Boxing Day and the chances of James being able to ride are much less than he would be able to on Saturday, and that is a big factor.”

Frankie Dettori finished outside of the top three in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year but said he still felt like a winner as he reflected on the “mistake” he made in declaring 2023 would be his last year in the saddle.

Dettori was one of six who made the shortlist for the coveted award, although as soon as it was announced England goalkeeper Mary Earps was made a long odds-on favourite.

Dettori recently took part in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in Australia but was the first to leave the show. Nevertheless, his year proved a real triumph and he was often seen at his majestic best.

The Italian – who turned 53 last week – enjoyed so much success in fact that he revealed he would postpone retirement and continue his career in America, where he will ride in California.

His domestic campaign got off to the perfect start when he won the 2000 Guineas on Chaldean and ensured he won two of the five Classics on offer by taking the Oaks on Soul Sister.

Further big-race glory followed at Royal Ascot in the Gold Cup on Courage Mon Ami and the winners continued to flow. He later admitted that by August he was having second thoughts about his retirement decision.

On Champions Day at Ascot, his scheduled last meeting in Britain, he produced a stellar ride on Trawlerman in the Long Distance Cup and signed off in customary fairytale fashion by winning the Champion Stakes on King Of Steel.

Speaking by video link from France, where he is on holiday with his family, Dettori told Clare Balding: “I’ve been in Australia for a month, and I’ve only got four days off before I start riding in the US on Boxing Day.

“I couldn’t jeopardise these four days to be with you guys, otherwise my family would have killed me! I apologise to everyone, I know how important this is to me and to everyone, I’m very sorry (not to be in the studio).

“To get to the last six, to me I’m already a winner. Racing is very important to me, but other sports appeal to a wider audience in England. I already feel like a winner to be a nominee.

“And you know what, apart from Stuart Broad the other contestants weren’t even born when I started riding! I’m the old man of the group.

“As you get older you have to train more to compete with people half of my age. I would say 70 per cent of the jockeys riding weren’t even born when I started, so fitness is very important. Nowadays we’ve got nutritionists and the most important thing is the mental state – the anger you’ve got to have to keep on winning, and that’s what’s kept me going all these years.”

On his decision to call off his retirement, he said: “At the beginning of the season, I thought, ‘well, I’m 52 and I want to stop at the top’. I watched (Cristiano) Ronaldo two years ago playing for Portugal in the World Cup and he was on the bench. I didn’t want to stop my career being on the bench.

“I thought when I called it a day things would ease off and I’d walk away into the sunset and say my last farewell to everyone. But the opposite happened, wherever I went I kept on winning, I did my farewells everywhere in Europe and I kept on winning and winning. I got to August thinking, ‘Oh my God, am I doing the right thing here?’.

“But unfortunately I’d told everyone I was quitting, so I’d kind of got myself snookered in the corner. I thought, ‘well, I can’t really carry on in England, because they organised so many farewell tours for me and a statue at Ascot’. But I’ve still got to get it out of my system, so my only option was emigrating to the USA, because it’s my last chance to perhaps continue what I love until one day I wake up and say, ‘enough is enough’.

“At the moment, because I’m still winning and the adrenaline is still there, the public still follow me – I’m sorry everyone, I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have said I was going to retire.”

Sir Anthony McCoy in 2010 remains the only jockey to have won the BBC prize. Dettori himself finished third in 1996, the year of his ‘Magnificent Seven’, when he went through the card with all seven winners at Ascot. Hollie Doyle was third in 2020.

Patrick Neville reports The Real Whacker to be firmly on course for next week’s Ladbrokes King George VI Chase after coming through a Tuesday morning workout with flying colours.

The seven-year-old won each of his three starts over fences last term, completing his hat-trick with a narrow defeat of Gerri Colombe in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

He disappointed under a big weight on his reappearance in last month’s Paddy Power Gold Cup, but Neville had a viable excuse after his stable star returned with an overreach and he is confident he is back on-song ahead of his bid for glory in Kempton’s Boxing Day showpiece.

“He’s in great shape and we’re looking forward to running him. He’s come on a lot since his last run and we’re delighted with him at the moment,” he said.

“He went away for a piece of work this morning – he’s been to the High Moor in Middleham for a gallop and we were very happy, so it’s just a case of keeping him fresh and well for the next week now.

“I think he maybe only missed two days after the Paddy Power, although he didn’t really miss anything as we had him on the water treadmill, which is a great facility for us here.”

The Real Whacker is a best-priced 10-1 for the King George, with the Willie Mullins-trained Allaho and Paul Nicholls’ defending champion Bravemansgame among his likely rivals.

Dual Ryanair Chase hero Allaho was sidelined for 19 months prior to a workmanlike comeback win in last month’s Clonmel Oil Chase, while Bravemansgame has been beaten in his two starts so far this season.

With Gerri Colombe’s participation uncertain and Nicky Henderson’s Shishkin set to line up having refused to start on his intended return at Ascot, the race does have an open look to it and Neville is excited to be in with a shout.

He added: “There will be some very good horses in the race, as you’d expect, but we’re very happy with our horse and that’s all we can ask.

“I think they’re due a good week’s weather, so the ground shouldn’t be as bad as it was in Cheltenham, when it was very heavy.

“Sam (Twiston-Davies) is looking forward to riding him. He was very happy with how he jumped for most of the race the last day and he looked after him once it wasn’t happening.

“We’re looking forward to taking our chance.”