AFTER the conclusion of four days of frenetic action at the Cheltenham Festival last week, this weekend is a far more low-key affair.
However, there’s still a competitive card from Newbury, where we can dig out a few interesting ante-post propositions.
The two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase (2.25pm) is a tight heat with the likes of last-start winners Noble Park, Heltenham and Kap Ouest potentially lining up.
If Noble Park does take his chance, he would be the one to beat and is the right favourite, but he’s too short for me to be backing ante-post.
With the ground set to continue to dry out, conditions might not be soft enough for Heltenham and the worry for Kap Ouest is whether he is a true stayer over this trip.
At a bigger price than the trio is the Joel Parkinson and Sue Smith-trained PRAIRIE WOLF, who also was a good winner on his previous start when landing the odds at Newcastle.
It’s probably worth drawing a line through his run before that, when he disappointed at Cheltenham, as the stable’s horses were in poor form at the time.
If you ignore that effort, he has won twice and placed twice from four starts this season, including when finishing third at Newbury in November.
He has edged back up the weights but is still only three pounds above the mark he started this season racing off, and while something in here may prove better treated, he looks set to run a good race once again.
Flat tracks like Newbury seem to suit him best and with the yard’s horses now back in form, he’s my idea of a solid each-way bet at around 8/1.
One horse that looks well-handicapped is WATAMU in the Grade Two mares’ hurdle (3.00pm).
She beat a strong rival in Khrisma at Huntingdon two starts ago, staying on well to just get the verdict at the line.
While she couldn’t confirm the form when the pair met at Market Rasen last time out, she was seven pounds worse off there, and it was still an excellent effort to finish third off level weights.
Behind her in fourth was Getawhisky, and although that rival gets a pound swing in the weights here, there shouldn’t be much between them.
At double the price than the Skelton mare, Watamu looks a much more enticing bet, especially as she seems to have been crying out for this step up in trip.
Emma Lavelle’s horses often take a big step forward when going up in trip and I can see this mare following that trend.
She makes good each-way appeal at 10/1.
Earlier on the card, the two-mile-three-furlong novices’ handicap hurdle (1.50pm) looks a tricky puzzle for punters.
There are plenty of unexposed types in here that could be open to improvement but sometimes experience can prove crucial in these events and STORMING GEORGE has a good deal.
He’s had five starts over hurdles, placing twice and winning once, while on the other two starts he was highly tried in Graded company.
Two starts ago he went down by less than a length at Doncaster when trying this trip for the first time, and a return to it should suit Neil King’s six-year-old.
King’s horses are in fine form at the moment, with the yard operating at a 40% strike rate in the last fortnight, and this drop in grade, coupled with the step up in trip could see Storming George land the spoils.
POINTERS SATURDAY
Storming George 1.50pm Newbury
Prairie Wolf e/w 2.25pm Newbury
Watamu e/w 3.00pm Newbury
