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Newbury Focus, Heavy Ground Test

Hi all,

Five races are live on ITV from Newbury and three from Warwick on Saturday afternoon.

The day’s most valuable race is the William Hill Hurdle (3:20), with £87,219 to the winner. It’s a race with serious history formerly the Betfair Hurdle, the Gold Trophy, and for older readers, the Schweppes.

Under its previous sponsorships, particularly the Schweppes, the race had a vibrant ante-post market and plenty of famous gambles were landed. Today’s renewal is a poor imitation of the old Schweppes, or even the Gold Trophy, from an ante-post perspective. Still, it looks a competitive race.

More rain was forecast, so we could be looking at heavy ground. Do you side with proven mudlarks like Milldam and Go Dante, or the progressive types potentially well ahead of their marks horses like Let It Rain and All In You?

Thankfully Newbury races as today’s column focuses on Newbury.

Read More »Newbury Focus, Heavy Ground Test

Friday Night Live at Newcastle: Five Key Races

Hi all,

Invades and ITV Racing finally launch the ARC “Friday Night Live” series at Newcastle. We should already have had one fixture, but last month’s Wolverhampton meeting fell victim to snow.

Newcastle will be buzzing. Students will pack the place. Expect plenty of drinking. DJs too. There’s even speed dating. And yes, some horse racing thrown in for good measure.

The racing itself is competitive. The prize money is strong, at least for the final four races, and it’s comfortably better than the Racing League. You can follow the action on and off the track live on ITV4 this evening.

Inside today’s main piece, I’ve looked at five of the Friday Night Live races.

Read More »Friday Night Live at Newcastle: Five Key Races