THURSDAY RACING TIPS

13:45 Southwell

A competitive looking handicap at first glance over a mile.

The likes of Love Your Work, Lucayan, and Back From Dubai have all been in good fettle lately and that trio should be competitive again for the places.

This race however is all about one horse, Robert Walpole. His comeback run at Wolverhampton was a mess. He was keen after a layoff and got held up, then ran on when the winner had got first run.

He has clearly had some issues which is evident with his four runs to date as a five year old. The fact that connections have persevered would indicate this horse has a fair bit of ability.

This horses pedigree would suggest this more galloping track will be to his advantage, and a mark of 70 could look incredibly lenient by the time the summer arrives.

ROBERT WALPOLE (WIN) written by Matt Polley 20:30 Newcastle

According to the bookies this looks set to be a two horse race and I couldn't agree more however we seem to disagree on which duo look the most likely victors.

Current favourite Kaahira shouldn't be out of the top two and with good reason however where the bookies indicate the Rebecca Menzies trained Dogged shouldn't be far behind I actually disagree. Five of the major newspapers may be siding with Menzies' five year old I can't shake off the fact the gelding returns to action after a near 200 day absence. The yard are going great guns and making his stable debut may bring about some improvement but surely he's covered in cobwebs and this is what he'll need to dust them off before becoming a serious contender? My biggest fear for the favourite actually comes in the form of one of the rank outsiders. Roger Fell's Dandy's Gold was last seen competing in Class 2 company at Southwell and this represents a massive step down in quality. He wasn't disgraced when fifth last time out and now against poorer opposition looks massively overpriced. Sadly the one and only thing that's putting me off is the fact there's just the six runners. If we had eight and three places available I'd be all over him to finish in the frame but I'm hoping the youngest runner in the field may have a touch of class and the David Loughnane's charge can go one better this time around.

KAAHIRA (WIN)

written by Rory Paddock