3.40pm Newbury Tips & Betting Preview 13/08/2016

An interesting handicap next over the specialist distance of seven furlongs and where we want to start with the John Gosden trained Von Blucher (6/1 Each Way) who catches the eye and is still held in some regard at home. He needed the run when a well beaten fourth on his return at Sandown but took a Class Two handicap at Newmarket a shade cosily over the mile in July and was beaten less than four lengths at Ascot last time out when looking a bit one paced. He ought to cope admirably with the drop back to seven furlongs if they ride him a lot nearer the pace as they know he stays further, and that will hopefully see a winning run despite his high handicap mark.

The David Loughnane trained Muntadab (10/1) won last time out over this trip at Thirsk and has a race record over seven furlongs of two wins from four starts. He just loves a fight and had to battle back to regain the lead last time, and looks to have been found the ideal jockey in Pat Smullen this afternoon who will be able to coax the very best out of him even if a six-pound rise in the weights looks pretty punitive for such a narrow success.

Richard Hannon can never be ignored in this sort of race and Ower Fly (22/1) catches the eye with Megan Nicholls taking a very useful five pounds off his back. His jockey clearly gets on well with the gelding having ridden him five times now for two wins and a second place which include last time out when making all over seven furlongs at Salisbury last month. If he has the speed to get away with some of these this afternoon in this better race and off a five pound higher rating, then he certainly has seems well weighted and is a very interesting contender in a fascinating race.

Gunmetal (10/1) would be interesting for Charlie Hills if we forgive the three-year-old his last run at Newmarket in a better race over six furlongs where they went a bit too quickly for him before he was spotted running on through beaten horses close home. Prior to that he just held on all out over this seven furlongs at Newmarket in a Class Four handicap off a rating of 83, and if they go quickly enough from the start in this better race there is a fear that he will struggle to get home over the trip in this class.

To finalise our race preview we have an outsider for you in Charles Molson (20/1) as we noted the very early jockey booking of the excellent Hector Crouch who takes five pounds off the back of the five-year-old gelding.  Admittedly the horse has not own since June 2015 but he was only two and a half lengths behind Hoof It in the Stewards Sprint at Glorious Goodwood and a repeat of that run would see him go pretty close at a massive price.