14:50 Hexham

Saturday 14 October 2017

All14:1514:5015:2516:0016:3517:1017:40

intu Metrocentre Always A Winner Novices' Handicap Chase

Off time: 14:50 | Winning time: 5m 32.7s

Alpine Secret¹⁷³

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: N de Boinville| T: B Pauling| OR: 103

3/1

Maiden of seven starts, six over hurdles. Interesting that trainer makes the trek from the Cotswolds with this his lone runner and has top jockey booked so no surprise if he goes well on chasing debut.

Form: 356947-

Western Jo^t²⁰

Age: 9| Weight: 11-11| J: Jonathan England| T: S England| OR: 102| D

10/3

Useful hurdler up to 3m who has shown reasonable form in eight chase starts without success. 10lb lower than when last seen over fences and showed some ability remains here in September but not won since 2013.

Form: 66-4724

Perseid¹¹

Age: 7| Weight: 11-11| J: Sean Quinlan| T: J Parkinson & S Smith| OR: 102| D

11/2

Four-time hurdle winner ran best race over fences last time out, his fourth attempt. Off same mark here and could go well for trainer who excels with steeplechasers.

Form: 344543

Clondaw Banker²⁴

Age: 8| Weight: 11-10| J: Lorcan Murtagh⁽⁵⁾| T: F P Murtagh| OR: 101| D

50/1

Yet to win in eight chase attempts and rating tumbling after four poor runs for current trainer. Often makes mistakes and far from a natural over fences.

Form: 2-304P6

Christmas Twenty^h¹⁶³

Age: 7| Weight: 11-9| J: Finian O'Toole⁽⁵⁾| T: Micky Hammond| OR: 100

20/1

Maiden is 7lb lower than when last seen in May at Sedgefield. Should be on a mark he can take advantage of at some point based on hurdling form but races keenly and can tire as a result so this track may not be ideal.

Form: 8PU6P-3

Haul Us In²¹²

Age: 5| Weight: 11-7| J: Blair Campbell⁽⁷⁾| T: Miss Lucinda V Russell| OR: 98

16/1

Ordinary maiden over hurdles but switches to chasing at a relatively young age suggesting this will be her game long term. Best watched today.

Form: 57833-

Red Danaher⁶¹⁷

Age: 10| Weight: 11-6| J: Danny Cook| T: J Parkinson & S Smith| OR: 97| D

15/2

Veteran not seen since February 2016 and was unsuccessful although not disgraced in similar contests before the layoff. Unlikely to be ready to do himself justice.

Form: 952264/

Log On¹⁶⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-4| J: C O'Farrell| T: R Dobbin| OR: 95

12/1

Winning point-to-pointer but beaten 20L plus in all five hurdle races. Presumably bigger fences will hold no worries but can't fancy him on recent form.

Form: 1/94349-

Ruby Who¹⁹⁴

Age: 5| Weight: 11-2| J: Craig Nichol| T: R Dobbin| OR: 93

50/1

Beaten out of sight in all fours starts to date and now switches to fences. Have to see some sign of ability to make a case for him.

Form: 00P97-

Firstymini⁴⁴

Age: 6| Weight: 10-13| J: Dale Irving⁽³⁾| T: R M Smith| OR: 90

33/1

Won three hurdles in France before joining current yard where he added another at Perth in August. Four steeplechases in France were relatively uninspiring and longer distance here is a slight question mark.

Form: 60-9310

Robins Legend^v¹⁹⁹

Age: 5| Weight: 10-10| J: B S Hughes| T: C Grant| OR: 87

20/1

Maiden over hurdles and campaigned over 3m plus. First chase start today and probably find things happening a bit quickly for him. Ground a concern having mostly raced on good.

Form: 5835P4-

Knocknamona³⁰

Age: 6| Weight: 10-8| J: Alain Cawley| T: Micky Hammond| OR: 85

28/1

Ran two good races over hurdles back in March, winning at Newcastle before finishing second here. Lost way since and recent reappearance over hurdles here was very laboured. First steeplechase today.

Form: 6125-97

Under The Red Sky^p¹⁷²

Age: 10| Weight: 10-5| J: Callum Bewley⁽³⁾| T: Kenny Johnson| OR: 82

10/1

Veteran is comfortably the most experienced over fences albeit a maiden of 19 starts. Ran some fair races (placed seven times) and latest third here not bad. Can go well off a light weight.

Form: 2P5223-

Non-Runners

Smiling Jessica¹⁶

Weight: 10-6| Age: 7

T: R Menzies J: Nathan Moscrop

Attention Please⁴⁵³

Weight: 10-4| Age: 7

T: R Dobbin J: R D Day

Forecasts

Alpine Secret (3/1), Western Jo (10/3), Attention Please (7/2), Perseid (11/2), Red Danaher (15/2), Under The Red Sky (10/1), Log On (12/1), Haul Us In (16/1), Christmas Twenty (20/1), Robins Legend (20/1), Knocknamona (28/1), Firstymini (33/1), Ruby Who (50/1), Clondaw Banker (50/1), Smiling Jessica (50/1)

In a race that will take very little winning PERSEID looks as likely as any. He wasn't beaten far at Sedgefield last time and is off the same mark today. Ben Pauling hasn't sent Alpine Secret all this way for nothing on his chasing debut so he merits respect. Ten-year-old maidens are hardly the sort you look for but that said Under The Red Sky is running well off this sort of mark and has a big advantage on most of these experience wise.