NEWCASTLE hosts its biggest Flat meeting of the year this weekend featuring the Northumberland Plate (3.10pm), also known as the ‘Pitmen’s Derby’ as it formed the traditional centrepiece of the holiday season for local mine workers.
An all-weather surface replaced the turf Flat course at Gosforth Park in 2016 but that has done little to diminish the quality of this historic contest, which has seen some top-class winners in recent years, none more so than Trueshan who carried a remarkable 10st 8lbs to victory two years ago.
This year’s renewal looks highly competitive and at the moment the picture is clouded by the presence of several Sir Mark Prescott-trained horses, including recent Royal Ascot winner Pledgeofallegiance.
It’s unlikely he will line up here though considering the quick turnaround, which should open things up for others including Michael Bell’s DUKE OF OXFORD.
This four-year-old seems to save his best for the all-weather, having won four out of his nine starts when running on an artificial surface, and was twice a winner over two miles at Kempton over the winter.
On the second of those occasions, he beat a good yardstick in Enemy, and since then he has produced two fine efforts over this course and distance.
He finished behind the reopposing Prydwen in March, when ridden in the rear and given too much to do in the closing stages, but now gets a nine-pound pull in the weights with that rival.
Things didn’t go to plan last time out when he was always at the back and never sighted in the Chester Cup, but given all three of his career starts on turf have been disappointing, it’s worth putting a line through that run.
Back on the all-weather, much better can be expected, especially with the Bell yard in good form and Duke Of Oxford lightly weighted off a mark of 90.
Star Sports have him in at 10/1 in their ante-post market and I wouldn’t put anyone off taking that price each-way.
Earlier on the card, the Group Three Chipchase Stakes (2.04pm) is often a strong sprint.
Kinross is the class act in the field and while he has won on the all-weather in the past, he is likely to have bigger targets on the horizon, so he could be worth opposing on this occasion.
This is a race that Newmarket-based trainer William Haggas has won for the last two years, including 12 months ago with Tiber Flow, who could line up in a bid for a repeat, but his trainer is likely instead to rely on MONTASSIB.
This son of Exceed And Excel seems to be improving as a six-year-old and he finished with an impressive late dash to win in Listed class at Doncaster on his reappearance this season.
That came on soft ground, which probably helped him, and he couldn’t reel in his rivals on his next start in the Duke of York on faster going on the Knavesmire.
He’s only had one start on the all-weather and it was a winning one, over this distance at Newcastle on his debut in 2020, so we know this track suits him.
On that occasion it suited his run style too, as he closed from the rear to lead late on.
Given a similar scenario on Saturday, he should run really well and I’ll be taking the 7/1 in places while it’s still available.
POINTERS SATURDAY
Montassib e/w 2.04pm Newcastle
Duke Of Oxford e/w 3.10pm Newcastle