North heads south for National

Cock Of The North: Trainer Scott Dixon hopeful of a big run at Sandown.

View from connections ahead of Thursday’s Cantor Fitzgerald Equities National Stakes at Sandown.

Brocklesby winner Cock Of The North will be put to the test in his second racecourse appearance on Thursday night in Sandown’s Cantor Fitzgerald Equities National Stakes.

Trainer Scott Dixon had his two-year-old sharp enough to lift the curtain-raising event at Doncaster in late March, where he came three lengths clear.

“This has been the plan for a while – he had a few options but we thought this was the one that suited him best,” Retford-based Dixon said.

“He’s been in good order. He’ll have to step up again, but he did it nicely at Doncaster and it’s not as if he’s a small two-year-old type with no scope, he’s quite a big horse.

“It was soft when he won – it was more tacky that day and it will be proper soft ground at Sandown, but he should go on it.”

Royal Ascot would be on the agenda if Cock Of The North acquits himself well and Dixon, one of the country’s youngest trainers, said: “It’s always on your mind and if he runs a very solid race he could go, either in the Windsor Castle, the Norfolk or the Coventry.”

The Richard Hannon-trained Tiggy Wiggy was also successful on the opening day of the season at Kempton and was most recently seen finishing second in the Listed Marygate Stakes at the York Dante meeting.

“Tiggy Wiggy lost nothing in defeat in this grade at York last time,” the trainer told www.richardhannonracing.co.uk

“She was only beaten half a length and they pulled clear of a smart field.

“She showed at Salisbury that she can handle the soft, so, while it will be tough against the colts, this has been a lucky race for us over the years, so, hopefully, she will put up a bold show from her good draw.”