Newcastle prospects

Newcastle has passed its, what now seems inevitable, inspection and racing goes ahead. Heavy conditions are the reason for the small-ish sized fields and without a feature race the meeting has a touch of 'mid-week' about it.

Having said that, Newcastle is our favourite racecourse (although Ayr is catching up fast in our affections....), and we're always delighted to take runners to this fair, galloping track.
On first impressions, Mini the Minx would appear to have a favourite's chance in the 5 runner 2m 6f handicap hurdle. A cautionary note is advised as she needed all of the 25f when second at Wetherby last time, and needed to be vigorously ridden from an early stage to keep in touch. This was a commendable ride from Callum, but he received a 9 day ban for his troubles, so clearly he cannot repeat these endeavours today.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have a horse that needs to be gently ridden through the race - Sam Patch. He takes his chance in the 2m 4f handicap chase which features the most runners in a race today at Newcastle, eight!
Sam won at Newcastle over hurdles, and he has taken well to fencing but don't look for him to appear on the scene until late on.
He would be the more fancied of our pair of runners today.

 
Sam Patch

Noddy High Kid runs 4th at Musselburgh yesterday

Not bad, but not good enough on the day.

I guess that sums up the run by Nodda High Kid yesterday in the 2m 4f novice hurdle at Musselburgh. He jumped well enough, making his only mistake when tiring 2 out, being out of contention at the time. He did get outpaced down the back straight, but kept on from the last just failing to peg back the third horse.

On the plus side, he is now qualified for handicaps, and should be better suited by a sounder surface and we're not that convinced about his best trip (he raced quite keenly yesterday).
Either way, a smashing horse to look forward to for the remainder of the season.