Newbury Saturday Preview - 27/03/21

The first race of the day at Newbury on Saturday is the Conditional Jockeys' Veterans' Handicap Chase over 2m7f and the horse that takes the eye is Tinkers Hill Tommy.

Rebecca Cutis' 10 year old has been largely consistent over the last few years and getting weight off the majority of the field makes him a big player.

The gelding in his last four events has placed in three of them, going on to land two good events including last time out at Hereford when a 17 length winner over a staying trip.

He will certainly get this trip on Saturday and having shown versatility to ground before he looks one of the more obvious winners.

The Novices' Handicap Hurdle sees a classy field head to post for a race of this stature and Good Ball for Paul Nicholls looks the class angle.

Having moved over from France to Nicholls this season, he came over with a big reputation having finished second to the smart Teahupoo at Auteuil on his sole hurdles start.

He made his British debut in December at Newbury and got off to a fine start when beating home the likes of Gowel Road and Grumpy Charlie.

Last time out he went back over the same course and distance and Gowel Road reversed the form, but Good Ball put in another cracker.

Now stepped up slightly in trip it should bring more improvement on his handicap debut and being given a mark of 131 looks generous.

The feature event at Newbury on Saturday is the Grade Two Mares' Novices' Hurdle and with a decent sized field heading to post we have a win and each way selection.

The Colin Tizzard trained Rose Of Arcadia has took the eye at 4/1 in the Cheveley Park Stud colours and this season over hurdles has done very little wrong.

Having won her P2P in December 2019 she was bought for £170,000 and given to Tizzard who gave the mare her rules debut in March 2020 in a bumper at Taunton and she was an impressive winner.

Stepped over hurdles this term, she made her seasonal debut at Ffos Las and looked to need the run finishing fourth of 10.

Since then she has been superb, finishing a narrow second over Christmas at Wincanton and at the same track next time out she broke her maiden tag when stepped up in trip.

She is sure to improve from that run and the second and third in that race have since gone on and won some nice events.

At a much bigger price is our each way selection for the inform Olly Murphy who has had 10 winners from his last 45 runners which sees him pose a 22% Win rate over the last two weeks.

He fields his mare Alpha Carinae who has been consistent this term and hopefully if the rain can stay away will get the better ground she needs.

Having won on her bumper debut in January at Newcastle, Murphy this season stepped her straight over hurdles and she made a winning start at Perth over 2m4f on good ground.

She then went to Market Rasen in October and was a good second behind the smart Aggy With It for the Skelton's, who went on to frank the form.

Since that run she has found things tough, finishing fourth behind The Glancing Queen in a Mares' Novices' Hurdle and then third last time out in a Listed event over three miles at Doncaster.

Dropping back in trip is a plus with 2m4f being her trip and if getting nice ground could outrun her odds of 16/1.

Another runner of ours that will enjoy the ground quicker than good on the day is Barton Knoll for trainer John Mackie, with this gelding being a very smart front runner on his day.

The nine year old this season has shown some of his best form over fences, needing his seasonal debut, but imrpovign massively after that to land a Handicap Chase at Doncaster over 2m3f.

Last time out he was hugely upped in class over course and distance and finished a good fifth of 14 in the Grade Three Greatwood Gold Cup.

He jumped and looked the winner for a large part of the race but was collared late home and if building on that will be sure to run well at a decent price.

The final selection of the meeting on Saturday comes in the two mile bumper and it sees the rules debut of the full brother to Douvan with Jonbon.

The Nicky Henderson trained son of Walk In The Park is making his debut in this event, with plenty of racing fans looking forward to seeing the £570,000 purchase run.

The five year old has been seen once in a point to point at Dromahane in Ireland and he ran out a 15 lengths winner over three miles.

JP McManus snapped him up and if he can do half the things his brother did then he could be the next national hunt star.

He takes on some decent runners in this event, notably Petrossian for Paul Nicholls who won on his debut very well.