'He goes there in brilliant form' - analysis and key quotes for Newcastle's 1m2f handicap

Front-runners often face a fair headwind up the straight at Newcastle and those who are held up in races over a mile and beyond can be favoured with the track’s gentle uphill finish. However, that edge decreases the more slowly a race is run when the scales tip towards prominent racers. 

Significantly, there is negligible wind forecast for this meeting and an easy lead will always be dangerous at any track. Perhaps that could be forthcoming once more for Midnight Lion. The five-year-old has made all in his last two runs over course and distance and set particularly steady fractions here ten days ago.

That race produced a fast finishing speed of 109 per cent over the final three furlongs and the likes of Urban Road (fourth) and Alpine Sierra (fifth) found themselves poorly positioned from off the pace. An end-to-end gallop is naturally in the best interest of both horses.

There is the prospect of Midnight Lion benefiting from a similar set-up, although Lerwick, who is also bang there in the early market, did attempt to control matters when last seen in a mile handicap here three weeks ago. 

Lerwick hardly gave the impression he was yearning for another two furlongs when fading out of the places, though, and it remains to be seen what effect a first-time hood will have. Trainer Ed Bethell is 0-3 in the last year with such runners.

Lerwick’s strength in the market after a two-month break is still respected and so is Sol Cayo

Sol Cayo dotted up in a lower grade but is evidently ready for the return to this level and landed a nursery off this revised mark in 2022 when trained by James Horton. He has been seen only sparingly since, but appears to have refound his momentum for a new team.
Analysis by Robbie Wilders

What they say

Fionn McSharry, trainer of Sol Cayo
He’s in good form at home and hopefully he can do the same thing again. We think he’s still improving and he’s won off this mark before. We’re hopeful there’s more to come.

Fionn McSharry is hopeful there is more to come from Sol Cayo

Jim Goldie. trainer of Midnight Lion and Alpine Sierra
There will be a swing in the weights from last time when Kaiya Fraser was claiming 3lb on Midnight Lion, but there's probably nobody who rides Newcastle better than Paul Mulrennan. The form that Midnight Lion is in you would think he'll run a big race again.  He has been progressive and you don't know where the ceiling is. Alpine Sierra has had more time between races and was possibly a bit flat the last time.The knack with him is to try and not see daylight until late and Amie Waugh is tactically very good with those sorts of horses.

Iain Jardine, trainer of Bashful
He was primed to run over hurdles at Musselburgh on January 3 when the meeting was called off at the very last minute. That was a bit frustrating because he was bob on for that race. Looking ahead, there aren’t too many jumping options in his grade, so I thought we’d give him a spin on the Flat. He’s working well at home and still shows enough speed to be saying he can win over this trip. He’s quite nicely handicapped on the Flat, so we’re hoping for a good run.

Alan Brown, trainer of Urban Road
He’s been running really well and the problem he finds is that there’s often no pace in these races and they end up turning into a sprint. He needs all the breaks and things to go right with him. He goes there in brilliant form and we might just ride him a bit handier because Paul Mulrennan’s horse [Midnight Lion] will probably make the running, and he tries to stop and start in races. We’ll try to ride him handier and hopefully we can have most things covered.
Reporting by Scott Burton

Saturday previews:

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1.45 Fairyhouse: Who knows what to expect from American Mike but this former winner looks the value at a whopping 20-1  

2.40 Chelmsford: Will change in trip help Eagle Day in his hat-trick bid for David Evans?  

2.58 Ffos Las: 'Is 120 is a nice mark? Hopefully, he's better than that' - all you need to know for a fascinating handicap  

3.15 Chelmsford: Expert analysis and trainer quotes for competitive sprint handicap  

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