A day vanished in the snow…. when I woke up this morning looking outside of the window and saw all this white stuff in the garden it was only a matter of time before the message would transpire of Newcastle being abandoned, as not only has Ireland’s east been hit by the snow chaos, so has been the UK. Let’s see if things go differently on Thursday…

5.15 Newcastle: Class 4 Handicap, 5f

If the race goes ahead then I am really keen on Rich Again. He drops down to a really tasty handicap mark, given he won off 3- and 7lb higher respectively last winter. The question whether he is still that good is easily answered: yes.

His 3rd place finish, when one lengths beaten over CD last month of a mark of 80 – so 3lb higher than today – when he ran to a time speed figure of 80 very much confirms this.

He was a long way beaten last time out, however that was over 6f, and there is no doubt that Rich Again is a different animal over the minimum trip.

This is a highly competitive race, and he will have to run to the sort of form he ran to when winning last year. That says he is still as good as ever and with a 50% strike rate over this course and distance he must be a live chance.

Selection: 
10pts win – Rich Again @ 11/1 VC