Alex Hammond tips: Racing blog ahead of Newcastle and Aintree

By Alex Hammond

15:58 · FRI November 10, 2023

Sky Sports Racing presenter Alex Hammond looks ahead to the weekend's action and fancies an outsider to run well in the November Handicap.

Great Scott in rescheduled feature?

It’s always good to have a plan-B. I didn’t have one when I set off to meet a friend for a walk this morning. When I was halfway to the destination, the heavens opened, and I knew my coat would end up weighing as much as a soggy sheep and I’d probably end up with feet that resembled a prune.

Both were accurate predictions. Thankfully, the Doncaster racecourse executive have paid more attention to the weather forecasters and took action to relocate the November Handicap fixture to Newcastle’s artificial surface. No soggy sheep there.

As a result, we have a competitive card that doesn’t so much as close the flat turf season but enhances the all-weather one. So, the feature Virgin Bet November Handicap now closes the card, and the field is reduced to 14 runners.

We are more conditioned to seeing horses trained by an Appleby on the Tapeta surface to hail from the stable of Breeders’ Cup-winning trainer Mick, but it’s Godolphin’s number one trainer Charlie that is responsible for the favourite.

Local Dynasty is Sky Bet's 4/1 market leader, but as the firm are paying five places rather than three, I’ll be taking him on. He steps up to a mile and a half for the first time and has also been gelded since we last saw him in July. There's no doubt he hasn’t fulfilled expectations this season, so he has a bit to prove on Saturday, which is also his debut on an artificial surface.

Now I don’t think PRYDWEN is chucked in, but he can operate off this sort of handicap mark and he is a winner on Wolverhampton’s Tapeta surface.

Sean Levey gets back on board having won on him last year and trainer George Scott is putting cheekpieces on for the first time. Latterly, he’s been running well in decent company over trips that may just be stretching his stamina, and the drop back to this extended mile and a half looks right up his street. Around 18/1 I hope he can run into one of those five places.

Sound claims at Gosforth Park

Let’s focus on the two Listed races on the card, the first of which is the Gillies Fillies’ Stakes over a mile and a quarter (1.30pm).

Charlie Appleby and champion jockey William Buick team up with another favourite in the shape of Veil Of Shadows, she’s 5/2 with Sky Bet. There is more to recommend this girl who is a daughter of the mighty Frankel and ran in Group 3 races on her last two starts.

She has been big prices on both those occasions and didn’t run badly at Newmarket last time out; but the drop in grade will suit. She doesn’t fill me with joy though and it’s easy to put those royal blue spectacles on when you see that team in this sort of race.

SOUND ANGELA brings solid course form to the table and is one of two in this for Champion Stakes winning trainer Roger Varian. She is three from four on an all-weather surface and this mile and a quarter trip looks just right. She ran well in France last time out and hasn’t had an overly busy season. She’s 5/1 second favourite with Sky Bet and appeals more to me than the favourite, particularly as a previous course winner.

At 2.05 we have the Listed Wentworth Stakes for the sprinters over six-furlongs. William Haggas has several chances across the card and in Sense Of Duty he has a good chance of winning this contest. In her first two seasons racing she barely put a foot wrong, winning four of her five starts. This trip suited her perfectly and she looked good when winning over this course and distance to land the Group 3 Chipchase Stakes in June of last year.

Annaf finished runner-up too her that day and that hasn’t worked out too badly! Unfortunately, she then suffered a few niggles and had fifteen months off the track, but when she returned, she wasn’t disgraced over five-furlongs in a group 3 at Newbury. Her only other start came in the Champions Sprint at Ascot last month. So, this is considerably easier than that and she has her optimum conditions once more. She’s also aided by the strong form of her trainer William Haggas at present, is the highest rated but gets a useful 5lbs fillies weight allowance.

Take two on bad ground in Grand Sefton

For those of you that are looking forward to the National Hunt action this weekend, it was good to hear Aintree are hoping to be ok to race on Saturday, despite the deluge of rain. The highlight there is the Boylesports Grand Sefton Handicap Chase over the National fences at 2.45.

Ground will be no issue for GESSKILLE, who originally hails from France and has won on very soft ground over there. His current trainers, Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero have sent him back over the channel for some productive raids on Auteuil.

The experience he has gained over those challenging obstacles have stood him in good stead and his record over these fences is good. In fact, he was a very close second in this last year off a 5lbs lower mark than the one he has here. He also finished runner-up in the Becher last December. He’s 100/30 favourite to go one better this year.

I may be wrong, but I can’t help thinking that top weight in this sort of ground may make life tough for 5/1 second favourite Fantastic Lady. She jumped well round here to finish second in the Topham in April though.

Paul Gilligan brings Born By The Sea over from Ireland. His team are in good form and this horse finished sixth in the Grand National behind Corach Rambler. He’s 15/2 to win his first race for almost two and a half years.

Cooper’s Cross was unlucky to fall in the Topham in April. He was squeezed out of it four from home and had nowhere to go. He looked to be making steady progress at the time. He ended the season finishing second in the Scottish National. The ground is the concern for me though, so the 13/2 doesn’t tempt me.

NASSALAM could run well if he takes to the fences. Gary Moore has put Caoilin Quinn up to take 5lbs off the 11st 11lb he’s set to carry and that is attractive.

He’s a 15/2 shot and unlike some of his rivals he has handled heavy ground in the past. He was a classy novice chaser and whilst he hasn’t won since February 2022, these fences can bring about a revival in some.

Gesskille is the most obvious selection, but I’m not against Nassalam to run a big race with conditions in his favour.

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