After 76 long days, British racing is back with a 10-race card at Newcastle. It’s a joy for Betway to be sponsoring the first event back, and 13 of the first 18 meetings overall.

13:00

The opening race is the Betway Welcome Back British Racing Handicap and, while a 0-65 wouldn’t normally get the blood pumping, this race certainly has.

Stone Mason 6/4 looks like he will go off favourite on his first run for Michael Appleby having been sold to Roger Charlton’s yard at Goffs in September last year.

His new owners, ‘The Horse Watchers’, include the incredibly shrewd brothers Martin and Chris Dixon, two guys who are well known in racing and would have had a hand in the decision to run here.

He wasn’t disgraced in four starts for his previous trainer in better-than-average maidens. Granted normal progression from three years old to four, plus with the added improvements his new trainer will undoubtedly eke out, it wouldn’t be a shock if he made a mockery of his mark of 63.

Another horse to watch comes from the talented Tristan Davidson’s stable, whose horses are always worth following whenever the market speaks favourably.

Heavenly Tale 9/2 is having just his fourth career start – and his first for this yard – but is unexposed and showed promise on two of his previous three starts. This mile trip looks sure to be more to his liking than the distances he ran over last term. If there is money for this horse, then write him off at your peril. 

13:35

The second race is the Betway Heed Your Hunch Handicap over 1m and is for horses raced 0-78, a new temporary rating bracket that was put in place to avoid bias towards those at the top of the traditional bands.

Mutasaamy 4/5 will no doubt go off odds-on and will be very tough to beat.

Hailing from Roger Varian’s yard, the four-year-old son of Oasis Dream showed markedly improved form following a gelding operation midway through last season, finishing second at Haydock before winning comfortably at Kempton Park in August.

He’s only been seen five times in his career and has also had a wind operation, so clearly isn’t straightforward, but looks the most talented and most-likely improver.

At a bigger price, Cote D’Azur 9/1 could be one to watch, especially if money comes for him, who ran very well on both his previous starts at Newcastle.

14:10

Division 1 of the 6f Novice Stakes looks a tasty contest with the first four in the betting all having a degree of appeal.

The two newcomers – Freedom Flyer 9/4 and Blazing Hot – will be popular, hailing from two big Newmarket-based yards and, again, any market support on their first outings could be telling.

Richard Fahey saddles Bond’s Boy 9/2, who has a 5lb penalty to carry for his success on debut at Redcar last August. He backed that up with a good third in a valuable sales race at Newmarket and, on all known form, is the one to beat.

The other horse who won’t be far away is Little Red Socks 7/2. Her trainer, Karl Burke, spoke very highly of her in a recent stable tour as she bids to follow up her debut success at Wolverhampton in March.

14:45

Division 2 looks a two-horse race.

James Tate saddles Magical Journey 6/4, who followed up her debut success with a solid second in the Listed Bosra Sham at Newmarket in November. She has the best form in the book in this race, but only time will tell how forward she is.

Art Power 6/4 was given a great write-up by her trainer, Tim Easterby, in a stable tour last month. He expects the son of Dark Angel to be competing at a decent level, highlighting a race at Royal Ascot as a realistic target. He should be going close in this if he is going to take up that fancy engagement.

15:25

The Heed Your Hunch At Betway Handicap is a competitive 6f race and, with sprint handicaps at Newcastle, it often pays to be either very high or very low, with those in the centre often not faring as well.

Brian The Snail 5/1 is usually seen in some of the better spring handicaps and is currently just 1lb higher than his last winning mark. He ran well on his only try on Newcastle’s Tapeta surface last June, when he was only beaten two lengths off a 6lb higher mark.

Yousini 15/2 is another to keep an eye on for Kevin Ryan. He was twice successful as a two-year-old before being gelded and having wind surgery. He ran OK at times last season, but my feeling is that the yard never had him quite right.

Another winter on a horse’s back can often reenergise them and see them return to the form they had shown a couple of years earlier, and that could well be the case here. He was rated 94 this time last year he runs here off a new mark of 83, so could be dangerously well-handicapped if he’s fit enough.

15:55

The Betway Casino Handicap is over 6f and is confined to horses rated 0-75.

A case could be made for a few here, with the lightly raced Oakenshield 11/2 an interesting runner for Kevin Ryan following both a gelding operation and wind surgery. Horses do sometimes need a few runs following certain procedures, so he couldn’t be backed with every confidence, but he’s unexposed and is bred to be a sprinter.

Written Broadcast 5/1 is another interesting contender on his first start for Jedd O’Keeffe after being bought by new owners Quantum, who made a splash last year with some of their purchases. They seem to be buying lots of horses who are trained down south and moving them up north and plenty have improved. Most significantly, they were well-backed when they went close, so monitor this horse in the market.

16:30

The only 5f sprint of the day is the betyourway at Betway Handicap and is another competitive affair.

Be Proud 3/1 always seems run OK at Newcastle and, on his current mark, should give a good account of himself.

The same can be said of Fox Hill 8/1 from the Eric Alston yard. I don’t think he’d finished improving and he runs here off a 1lb lower mark than his last run at Hamilton in September when he was a good second. A strongly run 5f would suit him well.

17:05

The feature race on the card is the Betway Handicap and it has attracted a very good field.

Alignak 9/4 hails from Sir Michael Stoute’s yard and, from what we saw last year, he was slowly improving and ended his season with a good victory at Kempton Park. Sir Michael has a very impressive 37 per cent strike rate at Newcastle and his runners shouldn’t be discounted lightly. Champion jockey Oisin Murphy takes the ride.

Trainer Phil Kirby gets the best from his horses and he saddles two with live chances in Ice Pyramid 3/1 and December Sound, who are both relatively lightly raced and have real each-way chances.

17:40

The Betway Maiden is another race that has been split and the first division has attracted some big names.

Rab Havlin rides likely favourite Frankly Darling 5/6, who was second on her only start as a two-year-old. Havlin is an integral cog in the John Gosden machine and he nominated this horse as one to follow in a recent interview on Sky Sports Racing. Apparently, she’s grown and improved and has been exciting the team at home.

Her biggest rival looks to be Thibaan 5/2. The son of War Front was an eye-catcher on his only start last year when he ran at Kempton Park in November and this step up in trip to 1m2f looks sure to be in his favour.

There are a couple of unraced horses from Mark Johnston and Hugo Palmer’s yards, but I’d say they would have to be above average to win this contest first time out.

18:15

The tenth and final race is the second division of the Betway Maiden Stakes.

There have been plenty of strong vibes coming from Roger Varian’s yard about Valyrian Steel 11/4 and market support will be very telling.

John Quinn saddles Luck On Sunday 15/2 who cost her owners a whopping $2m, so there will be plenty of eyes on her first career start.

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