Newcastle Saturday

THE valuable Northumberland Plate – the Pitmen’s Derby of yore – produced a surprise result with the win of 33/1 shot Nicholas T for Jim Goldie, beating Hochfeld and Rajinsky in a race where the first four home were drawn 14 or higher.

It may have been a shock victory, but it’s hard to think of one which would have been more popular in the north, with the winner gaining his 11th success in a long and distinguished flat career, albeit with this representing his first win beyond an extended mile and a half, and with a hood fitted for the first time in a bid to eke out his unproven stamina.

Whether the headgear made a difference is a moot point, but landing a specialist staying handicap with a horse who has done most of his winning at a mile must go down as an inspired piece of training.

Given a waiting ride by Ben Robinson, Nicholas T produced the best turn of foot at the end of a race which didn’t test stamina as much as it did tactical speed. The winner showed a typically admirable attitude under pressure, sticking his neck out and lunging for the line as if his life depended on it.

We tend to expect such big handicaps to go the way of unexposed improvers from the bigger yards, but it’s always heart-warming to see an old warrior like Nicholas T gain reward for his consistency, while Goldie’s ongoing policy of trying his handicappers over a range of trips was fully vindicated with this high-profile success.

Explaining the decision to give his charge a crack at the trip, Goldie was philosophical:

“The trip was obviously a doubt but it’s how you relax them and switch them off. Nicholas T’s last three or four furlongs is probably as good as Euchen Glen’s. They invariably don’t go a gallop here and they end up with a sprint up the straight.”

Chipchase Stakes

The Group 3 Chipchase Stakes was well-contested, if perhaps lacking star quality, and the decision of Andrew Balding to miss the Wokingham with his progressive mare Chil Chil was richly rewarded when the daughter of Exceed And Excel succeeded on her first attempt in pattern company at odds of 15/2.

Well ridden by Silvestre de Sousa, she was held up early, but came with a long run to overhaul the long-time leader Good Effort (Ismail Mohammed/Ray Dawson) in the final 100 yards, winning by three-parts of a length.

Diligent Harry (Clive Cox/Hector Crouch), another who missed Ascot a week earlier after the rain, ran a fine race to be third, half a length behind the runner-up, with Tabdeed a creditable fourth on his first run of the season.

The winner has progressed well to this level having been rated just 63 when winning on her handicap bow in August 2019. The plan had originally been to race in the Wokingham and the Stewards’ Cup, but the first part of that plan was scuppered by the weather, and the second part by the inevitable rise in the weights given the Goodwood contest has not yet been framed, as Balding admitted.

“I think we’ve blown our cover for the Stewards’ Cup now, given the weights haven’t been published yet. If the ground came up fast, Chil Chil will probably have a crack at the July Cup.”