15:10 Newcastle

Tuesday 23 October 2018

All14:1014:4015:1015:4016:1016:4017:1017:45

Betway Optional Claiming Handicap

Off time: 15:14 | Winning time: 1m 14.30s

(3)

Gulliver^p,t¹³

Age: 4| Weight: 10-0| J: Andrea Atzeni| T: H Palmer| OR: 104| D

25/1

3-9 on the AW; clear promise on his return from a five month break in a Chelmsford Conditions Stakes (7f) penultimate; lost all chance after a nasty stalls incident latest; eased in grade.

Form: 535836

(11)

Hakam^b1⁵⁸

Age: 6| Weight: 9-6| J: L Morris| T: M Appleby| OR: 96| D

25/1

4-18 on the AW; stayed on in a determined manner to win a 7f Group 3 contest on turf in Norway (Ovrevoll) in August; blinkered for his first synthetics start since finishing tenth of 14 in the Gosforth Park Cup (5f) in June.

Form: 004501

(1)

Reckless Endeavour³⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 9-4| J: C Lee⁽³⁾| T: T D Barron| OR: 94| D

33/1

3-15 on the AW; claimed from Jamie Osborne after finishing third to Mazzini at Chelmsford in August (6f), he's found competitive handicaps at Goodwood, Chelmsford and Leopardstown to be overly taxing since.

Form: 073800

(8)

Polybius¹⁷

Age: 7| Weight: 9-3| J: Oisin Murphy| T: D M Simcock| OR: 93| D

8/1

Not a regular winner, but edged out Airshow by a short-head on his penultimate start (6f, Kempton); far from disgraced when finishing a keeping on third to the progressive Major Partnership at Wolverhampton (Class 3) latest.

Form: 554213

(12)

Glenamoy Lad^t³⁷

Age: 4| Weight: 9-3| J: J Fanning| T: M Wigham| OR: 93| CD

4/1

Ran out a comfortable winner on his sole visit to this track (C&D) in November 2017 when beating Tropics by 2¾L; relatively quiet since, only returning to the track in August when finishing tenth of 26 in the Stewards Cup.

Form: 1411-00

(9)

Reputation^v²⁹

Age: 5| Weight: 9-1| J: Jason Hart| T: J & S Quinn| OR: 91| D

40/1

Finished in excess of 2L fifth to Polybius on AW debut at Kempton (6f) in September, but is slightly better off at the weights in this Claiming Handicap; previously beaten a neck by Bossipop at Chester (5½f, good).

Form: 020925

(2)

Royal Brave¹⁷

Age: 7| Weight: 9-1| J: D Allan| T: Rebecca Bastiman| OR: 91| C| D

66/1

Beat Musicka (fourth) when a 25/1 Ripon winner (6f, good) on his penultimate start, but folded tamely after showing pace when dropped back to 5f at Ascot latest; more required against these rivals; 1-10 on the AW.

Form: 321518

(14)

Muscika²⁴

Age: 4| Weight: 9-0| J: C J McGovern⁽³⁾| T: D O'Meara| OR: 90| D

12/1

Not the most consistent of horses, but was knocking on the door in the Portland Handicap (5½f) at Doncaster in September after winning at Thirsk (6f, good) previously; hasn't raced on the AW since October 2016 (0-1).

Form: 080154

(13)

Rapid Applause³¹

Age: 6| Weight: 9-0| J: Nathan Evans| T: M & D Easterby| OR: 90| D

20/1

Notched back-to-back early season wins at Beverley (5½f) and Hamilton (6f) rising sharply in the weights accordingly; 0-8 on the AW (mainly Dundalk) and competes on Tapeta for the first time after finishing in midfield in the Ayr Silver Cup latest.

Form: 611530

(4)

Hart Stopper^t²⁰

Age: 4| Weight: 8-12| J: P J McDonald| T: S C Williams| OR: 88| BF| D

14/1

Beat subsequent dual scorer Confessional (today's rival Rapid Applause third) when taking one of these Claiming Handicaps by 1½L at Haydock (6f, soft) early last month; and has run to a similar level of form at Salisbury (6f) since; 0-3 on AW.

Form: 210314

(7)

Eastern Impact⁴⁰

Age: 7| Weight: 8-12| J: P Hanagan| T: R A Fahey| OR: 88| D

10/1

No win since October 2015 (6f Ascot), but has kept good company and seldom runs a bad race; best effort in 2018 came in a Class 2 at Newmarket in June (6f); beaten shy of 4L (fourth) in the 5f Gosforth Park Cup on last AW start.

Form: 245067

(6)

Breanski¹¹

Age: 4| Weight: 8-11| J: G Lee| T: Jedd O'Keeffe| OR: 87| C

9/2

Ran on well to take the 7f Beeswing Handicap (Class 3) here during a productive spell mid summer; course record (7f-1m) reads 211, but he's dropped in trip now against stronger rivals, and this is asking a fraction too much.

Form: 211197

(10)

Warsaw Road²⁴

Age: 4| Weight: 8-10| J: T Hamilton| T: L M Cumani| OR: 86

4/1

Difficult to knock for consistency, and was a winner on his last AW start (7f on Polytrack) at Chelmsford in August; didn't quite get home over 7f at Newmarket latest when finishing 3L third to Muntadab (Cl 2), so a drop to 6f is worth a try.

Form: 447163

(5)

Tadaawol^p²⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 8-9| J: Paula Muir⁽⁵⁾| T: R Fell & S Murray| OR: 85| CD

33/1

Already a three-time turf winner in 2018 (7f-1m), and handles the AW well enough (1-8); however, proving competitive in this stronger contest looks to be potentially beyond the reach of his capabilities; opposed.

Form: 859618

Forecasts

Glenamoy Lad (4/1), Warsaw Road (4/1), Breanski (9/2), Polybius (8/1), Eastern Impact (10/1), Muscika (12/1), Hart Stopper (14/1), Rapid Applause (20/1), Hakam (25/1), Gulliver (25/1), Reckless Endeavour (33/1), Tadaawol (33/1), Reputation (40/1), Royal Brave (66/1)

Stuart Williams and owner Tom Morley have placed their horses well in these Optional Claiming Handicaps, and Hart Stopper beat today's rival Rapid Applause when winning at Haydock (6f) in early September. However, that winner is 0-3 on the AW and this looks to be ultra competitive. A number of those in the line up have run well at this track in 2018 over differing trips, including Eastern Impact (5f Gosforth Park Cup fourth) and Breanski (7f Beeswing winner), whilst the top-weight and well travelled Gulliver has regularly competed in Conditions races. However, a tentative selection is the dropped in trip WARSAW ROAD, who is nothing if not consistent.