3:15 Newcastle Tips

9/12 aged 4-6yo. 4/12 winning favs, 7/12 top 3 in the betting. 3 ran in the Chester Cup. 8/12 rated 96-104. Impressive win in the Chester Cup, form has been franked by the 2nd winning since and running 2nd behind French Master at Royal Ascot. Did well to win that having to come from further back and overtake the next 3 who had all led/sat prominent throughout. Hard to do that at Chester, so the 8lbs rise was likely justified. Was only beaten then 1.75L at Ascot into 6th, possibly the extra 2f did him there as he had struggled to stay 2m1f in the Triumph at Cheltenham over hurdles. Drops 3.5f here and could see him in an even better light, surprised he's not fav.

Two runs this year for the 5-year-old. He was a good 3rd five weeks ago, beaten just a neck and a short head, and he was 5 lengths clear of the rest. The winner that day was a cozy Royal Ascot winner last week, rated 12 pounds higher now with a rating of 108 and looks Group class. The selection stayed on well from off the pace that day, and this slightly longer trip should be a positive. No problem with this surface and weighted to run a big race.

9/12 winners 4-6yo. 8/12 rated 96-104. Won 3 on the bounce for Hugo Palmer after switched trainers. That included 2 at this level and one over CD. Was talked about as a potential Melbourne Cup horse after those and was strongly backed for the AWC Marathon Handicap back here over CD. Finished 6th there and showed nothing like he had done previously but wasn't a terrible run and the race played out unfavorably, doing too much early. Ran then in the G3 Ormonde Stakes where he was absolutely destroyed; however, again looked something amiss. Had run 5 times since Jan then and it's possible he'd just been overrun, had a longer break since then and has had wind surgery during the time off. It's hard to believe they'd got it so wrong with potentially being a Cup horse and it certainly looked to my eye he would have been competing in Group races by the end of the season. 6 places around and worth a chance to return to form here.