Architect Friday Racing Tips

DOLDRUM BAY (best price 7-2) doesn’t have many miles on the clock for a ten-year-old and having ran very well over three-miles in both chase starts for current connections thus far, he merits strong consideration from a mark that seems exploitable now eased in grade. 

He ran quite well when trained in Ireland without threatening to get involved but, interestingly, switched to this stable following a four-year absence when making his stable debut in July. He exceeded market expectations when finishing strongly to finish fifth of 14 and did little wrong when passing a few tiring rivals on chase debut, likewise when second last-time-out in a higher-graded event at Perth. He’s much better off at the weights with Breaking The Ice here and, with loads of scope from a handicapping point of view, he looks set to go close to opening his account at the Northumberland venue. 

SCOPE (best price 15-8) is thought highly of by trainer Ralph Beckett and now that he has his sights lowered following an excellent sixth in the Group 1 St Leger at Doncaster, this looks a fairly decent opportunity for him to finally deliver the goods with this track likely to play to his strengths. 

He had previously chased home Third Realm in the Derby trial on ground he wouldn’t have liked and was only a place behind Derby winner Adayar. That was only his third career outing and he still looked babyish and very raw but he kept on willingly under pressure to only be beaten seven-lengths. In fact, he beat none other than Derby Runner-up Mojo Star on debut at Newbury, so the substance of his form looks really strong. He missed the break at Doncaster last time but did well to finish as close as he did against horses rated higher than him and, although Chalk Stream is a worthy opponent, he comes out best at the weights and should be going close to winning this race. 

GET SHIRTY (best price 14-1) hasn’t threatened in both starts to date but returned a listed winner in France, as well as placing in a Group 2 behind top-stayer, Call The Wind, and given he’s the type that connections do well with, this five-year-old makes plenty of each-way appeal with still time on his side over this sort of distance. 

He was much improved last year, winning a handicap at Chantilly and a listed race at Deauville. He was highly tried on debut at York where he did too much too soon but shaped better than the result suggested when last spotted and this should reveal a lot more. He remains completely unexposed compared to a few of those who have questions to answer and, in the hope he gets a strong pace to aim at, he shouldn’t be written off just yet in haste and might just be able to showcase his qualities at this venue. 

Ben Pauling sends just the one runner to the Northumberland venue in the shape of NORLEY (best price 4-1), who has an excellent chance in the Michael Morris Decades Of Loyal Service Handicap Hurdle having ran well on stable debut at Bangor in July. 

His team are starting to hit the ground running already this term and this six-year-old made a very encouraging stable/handicap debut at Bangor to finish third and the form is starting to work out strongly given the runner-up returned a next-time-out winner. That was his first run in six-months so he’s entitled to strip fitter and, now able to compete from the same mark with that run under his belt, the long trip to Hexham for the Cheltenham-based handler could prove to be worthwhile with Luca Morgan claiming his valuable five-pounds in a race that won’t take a lot of winning and with four places generally available.