Horse racing / Timeform / 29 January 2009 / Leave a comment Bet Now

Timeform take a close look at two trainers who will be hoping their purple patches continue as well as one in need of a change in fortunes...

Donald McCain continues in fine form, having saddled nine winners from his past 25 runners for a strike rate of 36 %. The wellbeing of McCain's string was emphasised when he enjoyed doubles on consecutive days over the weekend, with Pelican Point and Youngstown scoring at Uttoxeter on Saturday and Comhla Ri Coig and Cromwell Court both successful at Ayr on Sunday.

The rest of the string have also held their form well, with ten of the remaining sixteen runners finishing in the frame. McCain has plenty of upcoming entries at Catterick and Wetherby over the next few days, and will be hoping his purple patch continues.

Scottish trainer James Ewart has his string in good fettle of late, and he has sent out four winners from his last nine runners resulting in a strike rate of 44 %. A previous seasonal best of seven winners during 2006/7 season means that Ewart is on target to reach that total and with a handful of recent placed runners, the Westerkirk handler will be hoping the prize money continues to come his way. The trainer's Super Baby, who won at Catterick on 16th January, is entered at the same course on Friday in a bid for a double.

Conversely, one handler enduring a bleak time of things of late is Dr. Richard Newland. If his stable continues in its current form, the Linacres Farm trainer looks unlikely to better his total of seven wins recorded in 2007/8, having gone some two hundred and thirty seven days and fifty six runners since Public Esteem obliged at Newton Abbot on the 5th June. Media reference to the approaching Cheltenham Festival is likely to remind Newland of the success he enjoyed in the Coral Cup courtesy of Burntoakboy in 2007, and the trainer will be hoping his string are in better form come Prestbury Park's March showpiece.