SHIMLA DAWN is among a host of exciting prospects trainer Mark Walford hopes can propel his Sheriff Hutton yard to greater heights on 2015.

The six-year-old enters the chasing arena at Wetherby on Saturday with the Cornborough Manor-based handler crossing fingers he can prove to be as durable a stable star as Fentara.

The latter, now ten, has won six times for the yard but will be retired to the paddocks at the end of the National Hunt season.

In Shimla Dawn, who has won one of eight races but has already competed at Grade level, and a couple of more expensive recent purchases, Walford believes he could have the horse to give him a representative at some of the country’s top meetings.

“We have bought a couple that are a bit more expensive than we have been normally able to buy and that is great. You need a quality of horse in the yard,” he said.

“It will be sad to lose Fentara.

She has been a great mare - a real flagship horse for us but we have got some nice young ones coming through. Shimla Dawn will hopefully be as good, if not better, than Fentara. He goes to Wetherby on Saturday for a novice chase.

“It will no doubt be competitive but he has schooled particularly well and he is an exciting prospect.

"It is what you need. Runners on the big days. It’s what I am working towards. That’s what everyone wants. They are not easy to get.”

Walford took over the reins from father Tim at the end of January last year and went on to have 18 winners from both codes.

Having set a target of 25 during this calendar year, he added he had learned a lot from his first year in the hot-seat.

Walford explained: “We have had ups and downs but, as you would expect when training racehorses, that’s what you get. There have been some really good days and a few frustrating days. You always want more winners but it has not been a bad start.

“Lorimer’s Lot won a decent little handicap at Ripon. Fentara won a nice race at Kelso and at Wetherby.

There were a few smaller winners in-between.

“It has been rewarding and challenging in equal measure. It’s a lot tougher, and a lot more pressure, but it is what I enjoy doing. I love doing it and some good winners have made it a lot easier.

“You pick up things along the way - about placing horses and knowing when you have got them in the right races. All the time you are trying to pick up different things, learning and doing research. I am always trying to keep a step ahead.”

He added: “We started off the Flat season and everything was running well and you think ‘this is easy’. Then it comes to the end of the Flat, the horses have had long seasons and they weren’t quite right. You have good spells and bad spells and it is trying to work out why they are not running right.

“There’s normally a reason and, when you find it, you’ll get going again. I would probably have taken your hand off to have 18 winners.

Now it has happened and I just want more. There is only one cure for having a winner and that’s having another.”

Preparations are already under way for the start of the Flat season in March and Walford said this was one of his “favourite” times of year. “We never have a massive bunch of yearlings but I always looking forward to getting them in.

This time of year is always exciting. The Flat horses are coming in from last year and we are seeing how they have improved over the winter. I am looking forward to the whole year - getting more winners and, hopefully, some nice winners as well.