3.25pm Newcastle Tips & Betting Preview 14/04/2017

Once again no history to work with so we just have to jump right on in with this mile and a half handicap that looks to be an each way possibility for the Hugo Palmer trained To Be Wild who heads the early betting as he looks to extend his winning run to three after victories at Ffos Las and Doncaster last season from just the two contests. Both were over a mile and a half so he has no stamina issues this afternoon and both were with Josephine Gordon in the saddle and she looks sure to be riding the son of Big Bad Bob again on Friday afternoon. After his last win Josephine said that “To Be Wild has a few quirks but he is improving and improving. Hugo has given him a lot of time, he is a big horse and he loves that ground” which suggests he may well get even better as he matures and strengthens, though his supporters will have to assume he will handle the all-weather surface here as he is yet to try it away from the Newmarket gallops. The lack of winners from the stable is enough to suggest he is too short in the betting (none from seven in the last fourteen days), but he is one to keep an eye on this season and may yet end up a bit better than your average handicapper.

His price looks far too short in the circumstances and with Godolphin deciding to rely on Good Run here the hint may well be worth taking. A four-year-old son of Iffraaj, Saeed Bin Suroor has booked useful three-pound claimer to take three pounds off his back and added first time blinkers to give him every chance. One run this season saw him finish a good second to Gavlar at Newcastle over two miles and the headgear may well be on to sharpen him up dropped back to this trip. Lightly raced, he has won three of his six starts over a mile and a furlong (twice) and two miles so he combines speed and stamina in equal numbers, and for a stable in great form (eight winners from their last fifteen runners for a 53% strike rate and close to six points level stakes profit), he seems the one to be on this afternoon.

With the ever-popular Frankie Dettori expected to ride there will be plenty of on course support for Marco Botti’s Wild Hacked here though the stable are not in good sorts just yet with one winner from their last five runners for a 20% success rate. Last time out the four-year-old colt finished second to Big Country at Kempton over a mile and three staying on well without ever looking as if he would get to the winner and after being put up four pounds for that run he looks likely to struggle against some of these regardless.

Fabricate is next on the short list for Newmarket handler Michael Bell and as the five-year-old gelding is owned by The Queen, he would no doubt prove a popular winner.  Put up what seemed an over the top four pounds for a short head win at Leicester in October last year he did his best to shrug that off on his return to action this season at Wolverhampton last month when a length and a half third to Cohesion over a mile and a half when running on well but failing to quicken up when asked to by jockey Adam Kirby but with that run under his belt he should be race fit today and looks sure to put up a bold showing if he gets the breaks in this field.

Rounding things off we have the decent Mustajeer who is trained for Hamdan Al Maktoum by up and coming handler Owen Burrows and will be ridden by Jim Crowley as the owner’s retained jockey this season. Two runs as a juvenile saw a maiden win over a mile at Newmarket when trained by Barry Hills but he seems to have had his issues and only visited the track twice last season. A second to Ventura Storm in the Listed Feilden Stakes promised plenty for the rest of the year but all he managed was a third to Rock Spirit on the all-weather at Chelmsford after being eased once beaten. The raw ability seems to be there and he is worth a try at this trip and in this class but for now he has plenty to prove and may be best watched to assess his well-being for the moment.