14:05 Newcastle

Friday 6 September 2019

All13:3014:0514:4015:1515:5016:2016:55

Mott Macdonald Bentley Handicap

Off time: 14:05 | Winning time: 2m 16.81s

(9)

Algaffaal^p¹³

Age: 4| Weight: 9-10| J: Ben Robinson| T: B Ellison| OR: 75| C

4/1

Kept on strongly when breaking the maiden over 7f here in April (same mark); twice placed since (7f-1m); although his pedigree doesn't necessarily imply that he wants to go beyond 1m, there's certainly no harm in experimenting.

Form: 173375

(10)

Rashdan¹³

Age: 4| Weight: 9-8| J: Jamie Gormley| T: I Jardine| OR: 73| CD

8/1

Dual AW winner for Hugo Palmer (incl C&D) prior to joining Iain Jardine for 21,000gns; dwelt and offered no show when dropped back to 1m at Redcar recently; re-routed from Wednesday's abandoned Hamilton fixture.

Form: 738569

(12)

Snowdon^p¹⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 9-8| J: A Mullen| T: M Dods| OR: 73

40/1

On the scene until late on when finishing third on seasonal reappearance over C&D (Class 4 fillies' handicap); hasn't really fired since and the sneaking suspicion remains that she's potentially more of a miler; closely matched with Elixsoft.

Form: 122-386

(3)

Elixsoft^p⁴⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 9-8| J: Phil Dennis| T: R Fell & S Murray| OR: 73| C

33/1

Course regular (7f and 1m winner); below-par on her last couple of starts, but was beaten a mere ½L by Tamreer (today's rival Snowdon third) in a C&D fillies' handicap in June; needs to bounce back in order to play a hand.

Form: 739209

(4)

Home Before Dusk^p⁷^{(ex 5)}

Age: 4| Weight: 9-6| J: J Fanning| T: K Dalgleish| OR: 66| CD

7/2

Notched a second Newcastle success when knuckling down to justify market support, beating Kilbaha Lady by a neck over C&D seven days ago; carries a 5lb penalty (due a 4lb rise) in a slightly stronger Class 5 contest; player.

Form: 615021

(14)

Lightning Attack^p¹⁹

Age: 3| Weight: 9-3| J: J Garritty| T: R A Fahey| OR: 74

12/1

14-race maiden; regularly placed over 1m (on soft) earlier in the season; steps up in trip for AW debut and it remains to be seen whether or not that can unlock the required improvement - dam was a sister to a 1m2f-1m4f winner.

Form: 032345

(13)

Skerryvore³⁴

Age: 3| Weight: 9-2| J: Hollie Doyle| T: J R Fanshawe| OR: 73| BF

3/1

Lightly-raced Toronado gelding; probably didn't see out the trip (1m4f, soft) when a beaten favourite on handicap debut at Doncaster; holds a chance of sorts on the strength of his earlier novice form; AW debut.

Form: 5423

(5)

Najashee^v¹⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 9-0| J: Paula Muir⁽⁵⁾| T: R Fell & S Murray| OR: 65

14/1

Ex Owen Burrows (bought for 20,000gns last October); 0-6 for this trainer; ran his best race here (1m) when dead-heating for third behind the 25-1 winner Liliofthelamplight; 5lb lower; stablemate of Elixsoft; others make more appeal.

Form: 463079

(8)

Flash Point²⁴

Age: 3| Weight: 8-13| J: Cam Hardie| T: Miss Tracy Waggott| OR: 70

25/1

Some signs of ability when starting at sizeable odds in a trio of novice contests (1m1f-1m4f turf) in recent weeks; is worth a cautionary market check on handicap/AW debut.

Form: 355

(11)

Coup De Gold³¹

Age: 3| Weight: 8-10| J: Aled Beech⁽⁷⁾| T: D Thompson| OR: 67

100/1

Placed as a juvenile (1m, heavy) for former handler William Haggas; sold for 20,000gns in May; increasingly poor in two starts for this trainer (1m-1m4f); look elsewhere for the solution.

Form: 582-477

(2)

Major Snugfit⁹⁷

Age: 3| Weight: 8-9| J: Nathan Evans| T: M & D Easterby| OR: 66WS

28/1

Sprung a 50-1 surprise when winning on the Flat at Beverley (7½f, good) last September; poor since, including over hurdles at Hexham; the potential for some improvement is a distinct possibility post wind surgery; AW debut.

Form: 5107-0

(7)

Debbonair^b²⁵

Age: 3| Weight: 8-9| J: J Mitchell| T: H Palmer| OR: 66| D

8/1

3lb higher than when fending off Lady Scatterley in a four-runner Class 5 handicap at Doncaster (1m2f, good to firm) in July; has previous AW winning form (Polytrack) on his CV, so could figure positively without appearing ahead of the handicapper.

Form: 586516

Non-Runners

(6)

Railport Dolly²⁰

Weight: 9-9| Age: 4

T: T D Barron J: P J McDonald

(1)

Briardale⁴⁸

Weight: 9-6| Age: 7

T: J D Bethell J: P Hanagan

Forecasts

Skerryvore (3/1), Home Before Dusk (7/2), Algaffaal (4/1), Railport Dolly (7/1), Debbonair (8/1), Rashdan (8/1), Lightning Attack (12/1), Briardale (12/1), Najashee (14/1), Flash Point (25/1), Major Snugfit (28/1), Elixsoft (33/1), Snowdon (40/1), Coup De Gold (100/1)

An open contest. The obvious starting point is last week's C&D scorer Home Before Dusk who appears more tractable nowadays since fitted with cheekpieces. He displayed grit when winning for the second time for Danny Tudhope (Joe Fanning takes over today) but does have a 5lb penalty in a slightly stronger contest and that certainly makes him beatable. Debbonair is a possible for Hugo Palmer, while it remains early days for the AW debutant Skerryvore. Nevertheless, although very difficult to predict nowadays there's some scope for optimism with the eased-in-the-weights C&D scorer BRIARDALE. He's worth chancing at projected double-figure odds.