John Budden casts an eye over the latest Cumbrian horse racing news.

Jumps trainers in Cumbria and the Borders remain disgruntled with what they regard as an unrealistic share-out of the revised fixture list.

A disappointed Nicky Richards is not alone in his opinion that the race planners have sold the region short.

“We should have been given the opportunity to race at courses like Hexham and Perth,” he said, “but the authorities have turned down their requests for additional meetings.

“We could have been racing round Hexham without a problem but the next meeting is not until early September, and Perth is the same when they are crying out to race.”

The one local course to have been smiled upon by the BHA would seem to be Cartmel, where action resumed recently and where three meetings are scheduled to be held in August. The first of these will be staged this afternoon and the five-day entries reflect the popularity of summer jumping.

Stables from the West Country, Lambourn and The Midlands are all represented. But the southern raiders could return home with their tails between their legs as the locals, headed by Brian Hughes and Jimmy Moffatt, will provide stern opposition.

Hughes joined forces with Donald McCain to land the opening race at Cartmel last month with the former point-to-pointer Totally Rejected. Beaten by a wide margin on his hurdling debut last October, Totally Rejected subsequently underwent a wind operation and the benefit of that surgery was clearly evident on his seasonal reappearance at Cartmel when he made every yard of the running for an unchallenged success. A follow-up win would come as no surprise.

Jimmy Moffatt’s horses ran well without gaining outright success at the opening Cartmel fixture but the course specialist should be a regular visitor to the winner’s circle this afternoon. Charlotte Jones and the consistent Lough Kent can start the Moffatt victory march in the 2m handicap chase and the stable’s accomplished conditional jockey can complete a popular double on Think Ahead in the long distance handicap hurdle at the end of the card.

The Steward will be fancied to go close for the Moffatt team in the 2m hurdle but here I like the chances of Iolani. Few northern trainers have their horses in sharper form than Dianne Sayer and fresh from a recent win on the flat at Thirsk, Iolani can maintain Dianne’s winning run on his return to hurdling.

Nicky Richards sent just the one runner south to Bangor last week but Imada certainly made the trip worthwhile.The lightly-raced Greystoke chaser has experienced a niggling series of fitness issues over the years but he has retained plenty of ability, and with Brian Hughes sitting almost motionless in the saddle jumped like the proverbial stag and cruised to an effortless 15-length success.

Nicky reports that Imada has suffered no ill effects from the race and on this Bangor running must be fancied for a follow-up win. Stablemate Caius Marcius ran another sound race to finish second under a big weight over hurdles at Southwell and is clearly knocking at the door.

On the Flat the Cumbrian trainer in top form continues to be Dianne Sayer. Millie The Minx was a rewarding winner at Hamilton. Redarna put up a creditable display under 10 stone at Thirsk while The Navigator and in particular Jackhammer are both primed for success.

Best race on the level in the north tomorrow is The Rose Of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock. Mark Johnston has entered four runners and the pick of the quartet could be Rose Of Kildare. A bargain buy at little more than £3000, the filly recorded a career high last time out when taking the Musadora Stakes at York.