14:40 Newcastle
Saturday 8 April 2017
All14:0514:4015:2015:5516:3017:0017:45
Vertem Twitter Handicap Chase
- 5YO plus  |  Class 4  |  2m 7f 91y  |  Good (Good to Soft in places, Watered)  |  5 Runners  |  Turf  |   Weighed In
- Off time: 14:40Â Â |Â Â Winning time: 6m 1.2s
Cloth number
Odds
Horse A-Z
Show odds
Progressive chaser this winter (one of a number from this yard), and notched the hat-trick when winning at Ayr in the New Year (3m soft). Things haven't quite gone to plan since, and he bumped into the thriving I Just Know at Catterick when last seen in February. This race is a grade lower, but his mark of 120 might prove high enough.
His undoubted potential has been stunted over fences by a lack of fluency at his obstacles, and he got no further than the third on his penultimate start at this track last month. Falling in the weights, but a risky proposition on drying ground until he puts all of the pieces together.
Point-to-Point and 2m6½f novices handicap hurdle winner whose rules fencing career got off to the worst possible start (unseated rider) at Ayr in October 2016. Lacked fluency in three runs since (all placed), but his 11L third to the progressive pair Two Smoking Barrels and I Just Know at Wetherby in December (3m) marks him out as a major player in this race.
Course bumper winner in February 2012, who has went onto record a further three victories (hurdle and two chases) since. Appears to be well suited by a decent surface as he showed in winning at Hexham in May 2015. Off for 21 months until returning at Wetherby in February, so has some questions to answer at the age of ten with others preferred.
All three career wins in Ireland for Arthur Moore came over much shorter trips and on soft or heavy ground. Somewhat of a frustrating horse since switched to these shores, and unable to take advantage of a rapidly falling mark, lacking any real grit at the business end of the race over a slightly shorter trip at Wetherby just last week.
Forecasts
Golden Investment (6/4), Treat Yourself (7/2), Nortonthorpelegend (4/1), Mossies Well (11/2), Scarlet Fire (8/1)
Like his stablemate Halcyon Days, Nortonthorpe Legend has been a fine example of the training skills of Rebecca Menzies and her staff winning on three occasions between November 2016 and January 2017. He will appreciate this slightly lower grade of race (than Catterick in February), but his mark of 120 might just be beyond him. However, the only real danger in this contest is surely GOLDEN INVESTMENT. With a safe round of fencing, his December third to Two Smoking Barrels looks strong enough form to take a race in which the other three runners all have significant question marks hanging over them.
- Golden Investment
- Nortonthorpelegend
- Mossies Well
Prize Money
1st: £3,769.002nd: £1,107.003rd: £553.004th: £277.00
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