Surrey Quest for latest victory moves back to Scotland

Surrey Quest will head to Musselburgh for the bet365 Edinburgh National on Sunday, bidding to go one better than his last visit north of the border when agonisingly denied in the Scottish Grand National.

Toby Lawes’ eight-year-old has become a likeable performer in these long-distance handicaps and showed his thirst for a marathon test when pushing Macdermott all the way at Ayr last April, beaten a nose by Willie Mullins’ raider.

Another runner-up effort at Cheltenham in the autumn continued the Surrey Racing-owned gelding’s progress in the staying division and he now attempts to bounce back from a minor blip at Newbury over Christmas when again making the long journey to Scotland.

“We did look at the Masters at Sandown, but there are plenty of concerns about the ground there, so rather than going to our local course, we’re heading all the way up to Musselburgh,” said Clive Hadingham, co-founder of Surrey Racing.

“He’s well and it looks a nice race, there’s some nice horses in it, it’s going to be competitive.

“We have an entry in the Grand National now, but he won’t get in off 139. I guess it all depends on how he does at Musselburgh.

“We thought he was running well in the Mandarin at Newbury before losing Kevin (Brogan), so we think we head there in good form.”

Handed an entry for the Randox Grand National earlier this week, a strong showing from Surrey Quest in Musselburgh’s four-mile event could see an Aintree bid become a realistic option for connections to consider in the spring.

“If he does well, goes up high enough in the ratings and schools well over the National fences, then that is a possible route we could take, but it is one race at a time, I think,” continued Hadingham.

“We’ll consider Aintree, but it isn’t a foregone conclusion and there are also races like the Midlands National and the Scottish National as well which are nice options. I guess our worry would be if we get up to say 143 or 144, then that might be too much weight to carry at Ayr.

“We run on merit each race and the horse will take us where he takes us. It would be silly not to consider the National, but he would have to jump well when schooling over the National fences. He’s an economical jumper, but he’s prone to the odd mistake.”