All-weather expert Jamie Maynard previews the pick of the action at Newcastle tonight and he's got two bets on the card.
7.15 Kempton preview
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A pretty average looking contest here with only six going to post and it usually pays to look at the head of the market in these types of races. Ambient ran well on debut over an extended seven furlongs when finishing second, but didn’t follow that up next time both on good to soft ground at Lingfield. Roger Varian’s yard are in good form at present though and this horse tackles the all-weather for the first time, but this switch to synthetics will have to bring improvement if he’s going to be a key player. Cirus Minor was a beaten favourite over six furlongs last time but an earlier second here on his debut puts him in the picture with the step up in trip likely to suit. My choice though is the Hugo Palmer trained STRANGE SOCIETY, who makes the trip up north from Newmarket. This son of multiple group winner Society Rock made an encouraging debut at Chelmsford when third. He missed the break and ran a bit green but that experience should put him in good stead for this and the yard are in flying form, as well as their 25% strike-rate here and course specialist Josephine Gordon in the saddle, all good reasons to be confident of a big run. He’s certainly the one to beat in my eyes.
7.45 Newcastle preview
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The feature race on tonight’s card is this class 3 handicap being run over six furlongs, but is only worth £7,246 for the winner. It’s a wide open handicap though with only eight pounds separating the top and bottom weights, so there’s plenty with viable opportunities. Tilly Trotter was a dual winner over the minimum five furlong trip when trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld and she won her first race for new trainer Declan Carroll in a fillies’ handicap over course and distance last time out, but this looks much tougher and she’s up a further 3lbs. Kenny The Captain boasts cracking course form which reads, 3-2-1-2, along with two wins on the turf course. He clearly enjoys his visits to Gosforth Park and the latest was when just beaten by subsequent winner Boy In The Bar and a rise in the weights still might not holt him as he’s won off a 3lb higher mark around this time last year. An interesting contender is Tropics for Dean Ivory, who is a previous group 3 winner along with four listed events all over this trip. His form hasn’t been great in the past few seasons though and that has resulted in a big tumble in the weights, which is now 24lbs lower than his highest mark and if improving on a latest fourth placed finish he could be right there as he’s sitting on a very dangerous mark. The one I like the look of here though is Richard Fahey’s seven-year old RIGHT TOUCH. He arrives here off the back of a good fourth, beaten less than two lengths in a 0-105 handicap and is now dropped into a 0-90. He went close here off a mark of 98 last year and has also won on the turf off of 95 and although having not won this calendar year, you’ve got to think if putting his best foot forward tonight, that he can be very competitive off a handicap rating of 89.
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