'That was a considerably better race than this' - Paul Kealy has four Saturday selections after Friday's 16-5 winner
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Prince Quali
1.30 Wincanton
1pt win
Feach Amach
2.05 Wincanton
1pt win
Go Steady
2.40 Wincanton
1pt win
Glory Hights
3.25 Newcastle
1pt each-way
It is fair to say racing's premierisation strategy has made a stuttering start.
On New Year's Day Cheltenham was plagued with miniscule fields, while the major British meeting this weekend, Sandown, was lost to a waterlogged track after a day of incessant rain on Thursday.
ITV4 has managed to salvage an eight-race programme by heading to Newcastle, but Wincanton's card wasn't exactly loaded with top performers, and with three Class 3s, two Class 4s and three Class 5s, what we have got is anything but premier.
Newcastle's closing 2m4½f handicap hurdle (3.25) is a real pearler, with the horse who has managed to come out top on Racing Post Ratings, Glory Hights, having run in just three hurdle races at odds of 100-1, 125-1 and 250-1, finished last every time and been beaten an aggregate of 123 lengths.
I was saddened when we lost Sandown as the feature was the veterans' chase final, and I have a real soft spot for the old stagers and have never missed the card.
Slavish devotion to horses past their best can have its drawbacks, obviously, but I backed the 13-year-old Ardera Cross at Ayr on Tuesday (after-timing, I know) and there is one old boy at Wincanton who I reckon could pay for the day.
Georges Saint is favourite for the 2m4f handicap chase (2.40), which is hardly surprising given he is going for a bad-ground hat-trick and is trained by Venetia Williams, who is operating at a phenomenal 27 per cent strike-rate this season.
However, her eight-year-old does tend to make things hard for himself, and he looked booked for third when the front two bounded away from after the third-last at Fakenham last time only to find themselves treading water a little later on.
The ability to handle deep ground and stay on strongly are clearly positives, but this is a miles better race and he's 7lb higher in it.
You can, however, pick holes in nearly all of his rivals, most notably second favourite Huelgoat, who may not have stayed 3m last time but has no worthwhile form on very soft ground.
Therefore I think it is worth taking a chance on the 12-year-old Go Steady for Dan Skelton. He may well be getting on, but Go Steady was in career-best form on his final two starts of last season, beating Animal (10lb higher now after a good win this term at Sandown) at Stratford before another excellent second at the track next time.
He was a fair way behind Huelgoat when only seventh on his return, but has been better the last twice, going down in a photo switched to hurdles at Uttoxeter and then running fourth from 3lb out of the handicap in a high-quality veterans' chase at Cheltenham.
The winner, second and fifth (Cepage, Lord Du Mesnil and Sam Brown) were all priced in single figures for the £100,000 final at Sandown and the sixth won at Ayr on Tuesday, and, forgetting their age, it was a considerably better race than this one.
The problem with the 1m7½f handicap chase (1.30), as with the 2.40, is that you can pick holes in nearly all of the runners.
Magic Saint would carry these at his best, but looked in terminal decline when last seen, and while I'd like to make going too fast an excuse for Fast Buck getting beaten 25 lengths last time now that Jane Williams is in such good form, it is hard to do that when the horse who won the race was the one who put it to him up front.
Mr Grey Sky is off the list with Kim Bailey having gone quiet, while the once useful Fakir is out of his depth in this grade nowadays, so by process of elimination the bet is Prince Quali.
This is little more than an educated guess, however, as Robert Walford's seven-year-old has run only once in Britain and was beaten 25 lengths.
He did win four times in France, though, including once over fences at Auteuil, after which he was tried at Listed level but blew any chance he had by jumping markedly to his right.
He should be suited by going right-handed over fences on that evidence, and his reappearance was not that bad as he shaped well for a long way before getting tired, which he was certainly entitled to do after 602 days off the track.
Other than the favourite, he's the only one in this field still with plenty of upside.
The 1m7f handicap hurdle (2.05) features a favourite in Fourofakind, who was around 3st below form last time.
With his trainer Harry Derham being 8-15 in the past fortnight, you can understand the bookmakers being careful, but Feach Amach is the one with the recent form and is worth backing against him.
When first looking at this race I was minded to leave it alone as the most surprising thing about Feach Amach's win last time at Sedgefield was that she went off at only 33-1 as had shown nothing in two previous starts.
However, that was only the second time in her career she had run on soft ground, and in the first she ran the race of her life on the Flat, finishing a four-and-a-quarter-length fourth in a maiden at Leopardstown to none other than Warm Heart (subsequent dual Group 1 winner) with another subsequent Group winner just ahead of her in third.
She didn't really repeat it, but a peak rating of 80 on the Flat makes her look very well handicapped off just 93 over hurdles, and if the ground is key she might prove it here.
I found it really hard to get to grips with the action at Newcastle, but then some prices came out so I thought I'd have a good look and see how Glory Hights came out top on RPRs as he was 16-1 on the first shows.
It is fair to say that serious promise was hard to detect, but Glory Hights's best run was at least his most recent, and despite being the 250-1 outsider of five he was only dropped by the others turning for home and was beaten only 31 lengths.
The first three home that day would now have to give him upwards of 3st in a handicap, so it is fair to say the assessor has gone as low as he dares to give him a chance.
It is not exactly the most solid piece of form to hang your hat on, but this is a bad race and he's got a very low weight, so I'm going to have a small tickle myself.
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