Philip Hobbs makes a rare foray to Musselburgh with Royal Player

Royal Player, a rare Musselburgh runner for Philip Hobbs, must concede weight all round in the feature race at the East Lothian track on Monday.

The Somerset raider, partnered by Richard Johnson and only the trainer's third representative at the track in the past five seasons, faces five rivals in the £12,000 William Hill Kilmany Cup Handicap Chase.

Explaining the reasons behind sending Royal Player to Scotland, Hobbs said: "He's not qualified to run in a class 1 or a class 2 chase and this was about the only class 3 around. He should be competitive and I'm hoping it's worth the trip.

"We haven't had that many runners at Musselburgh and I think our only winner at the track has been What's Up Boys. He won a novice chase there in December 2000, the year before he won the Hennessy."

Among those up against Royal Player is Michael Smith-trained Dream Flyer, a winner at Wetherby last month when wearing a tongue strap for the first time.

Bruce Mactaggart's four-time course winner Red Tanber takes on seven opponents in the Alex Donaldson Handsome Handicap Chase. He has won five races in all during his career with every success coming with today's pilot Lucy Alexander in the saddle.

Fresh from riding a double for Lucinda Russell at Musselburgh on Friday, Craig Nichol has four booked rides for the Kinross trainer and they include Urban Kode in the William Hill-Bet On The Move Handicap Hurdle.