Easter Classic: Jamie Lynch on every runner in Newcastle All-Weather Finals Day feature on Good Friday | Racing News

Sky Sports Racing’s senior form analyst Jamie Lynch on every contender for the flagship contest on All-Weather Finals Day at Newcastle on Good Friday, live on Sky Sports Racing.

ELEGANT MAN

Jockey: David Egan | Trainer: A Murray

He’s the odd one out in all sorts of positive ways, making his handicap debut having figuratively gone from 0-70 in a matter of seconds, not starting until the end of October but speeding straight into the fast lane and bringing with him a mark of 106, as well as a Group 1 entry (Tattersalls Gold Cup).

If anything, his assessment of 106 looks light given the horse to have beaten him is the Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel’s Romance. A wide draw and deep field may magnify his inexperience but he could have a touch of class that others can’t reach.

HOOKING

Aurelien Lemaitre | P Decouz

The most familiar and probably the most formidable All-Weather horse in France, and he’s fresh from the double-double, winning back-to-back listed races at Cagnes-sur-Mer two years running, better than ever at the age of 8, most recently defeating Fast Raaj and Tempus who both go in the Mile Final.

This will be his first start outside of France but he’s a master of his All-Weather craft and has won no fewer than eight times in double-figure fields, including four handicaps, so there’s nothing at Newcastle to faze him.

BASE NOTE

Harry Burns (3) | S & E Crisford

Second in last year’s watered-down Easter Classic, but has raised his game a bit more this winter and is 7 lb better off with Elegant Man for just ½ length when the pair were placed behind Rebel’s Romance at Kempton.

There’s a suspicion that he’s suited by slim-lined conditions races, however, and he’s 0/6 in double-figure fields and hasn’t finished closer than fifth off marks in the 100s in his last three handicaps.

CLAYMORE

D McMonagle | Jane Chapple-Hyam

Royal Ascot winner in 2022 but lean times ever since, albeit steadying the ship back on All-Weather this winter, yet there’s a feeling he’s flattered by his runs against Military Order in messy races at Southwell for the Winter Derby and prior trial, casting doubt as to whether he’s worth the 105 for his first ever try in a handicap (though he was rated 111 in his pomp).

TEUMESSIAS FOX

Oisin Murphy | A M Balding

You’d knock a few points off his price if the venue was Kempton, where he’s twice looked unstoppable, including last time (beat subsequent winner Max Vega by 3¼ lengths), but the time before he was only fifth to Penzance and co in the New Year’s Day trial over this course and distance, while a triple-digit mark has been a no-go zone for him in the past.

BLANCHLAND

Rossa Ryan | Jane Chapple-Hyam

He’s a grinding galloper and a strong stayer, part of the reason he’s 2/2 at Newcastle, the longer straight plugging into his matrix more than Kempton and Lingfield where he’s plateaued in mid-winter, still not far behind Elegant Man in the Wild Flower and overhauled only late on in the Quebec.

Back in a big field at Newcastle, with Rossa Ryan up, it feels like Blanchland is sitting on a peak performance, which may be enough for a podium place.

FREESCAPE

L T McAteer | D Marnane

A veteran 9-y-o who has tried and failed on the last two Good Fridays, finishing seventh in the 2022 Mile and last of six in the 2023 Easter Classic, which wasn’t nearly so classy nor competitive as this renewal.

SIR BUSKER

D Tudhope | W J Knight

A Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed once upon a time, inevitably winding down at his age, but showed there’s still some fire in his belly this winter when placed twice in handicaps over this course and distance, including the New Year’s Day trial, for which he’s 12 lb better off with Penzance and 6 lb with Storm Catcher.

Lesser run under an apprentice in the Lincoln Trial last time but Danny Tudhope is a perfect partner for him here in their ploy to pick up some pieces late on.

DIDEROT

Rob Hornby | J Ferguson

Doesn’t often get races run to suit on the All-Weather but he did on Good Friday last year when winning the (14-runner) Middle Distance Vase at Lingfield, and the same set-up is on the cards here, which raises hope that he can play more of a part than his odds suggest.

Finished fifth to Penzance in the Lingfield trial last time but was ridden much handier there to cash in on stall 1 and to combat the uneven pace, none of which showed him to full effect, but this race really could, making him a lively longshot.

STORM CATCHER

David Probert | Simon Pearce

One of the most likeable and laudable horses around, on the quiet, and has a happy habit of nudging up his rating every time, some going at the age of 6 after 23 runs. In between his two wins this winter he has twice finished second to Penzance, just a short head between them in the course-and-distance trial on New Year’s Day, and he’s 6 lb better off now.

Regular rider Jack Mitchell is obliged to stay with Oh So Grand but David Probert is 2/3 on him and Storm Catcher enjoys it at Newcastle, easily winning at the Racing League here. With his ability, attitude and aptitude for this environment, he’ll be there or thereabouts.

PENZANCE

Alistair Rawlinson | M Appleby

Of all the “Mick makeovers” this one is tracking to be one of the biggest and best, joining Appleby (from the Crisfords, no less) as a momentumless maiden but transforming in no time into a winning machine, completing a four-timer including the two trials, improving 25 lb along the way and putting himself in line for the maximum £75k bonus.

More than the pounds of progress, his entire demeanour and dynamics have shifted and sharpened into – ability aside – the perfect racehorse who’s so competent and clinical about his business, the reason he was just as good at Lingfield last time as Chelmsford and Newcastle, his zest for the game a joy to watch.

Does another 6 lb rise to 98 tip the balance of power against him in a handicap as strong as this? Logic says yes, but there’s a long line of Mick makeovers past and present which says no.

STAR HARBOUR

Adam Caffrey (3) | A McGuinness

A rare dip down to a 0-90 when he won a Racing League event at Chepstow last summer, but that’s his one and only handicap win in the last three years, plus he’s 0/10 on All-Weather, though in fairness he ran really well for second at Dundalk last time under the same rider, Adam Caffrey the runner-up in the apprentice championship in Ireland last year.

OH SO GRAND

J Mitchell | S & E Crisford

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fastest of them all? No horse in the field can serve up the sub-11 second furlongs like she can, promoting her over this course and distance in October but positively propelling her at Lingfield where speed matters all the more, hitting her primary target of the high-value Winter Oaks.

This could be a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show, along with the added difficulty involved, against the males, away from Lingfield and at a mark some 18 lb higher than the start of the winter.

ONESMOOTHOPERATOR

Ben Robinson | B Ellison

Landed the rearranged November Handicap, partly because Newcastle is right up his street, but so too is 1½m, and this trip pushes too many pressure points to expect him to get involved, unless they go very hard, which is improbable but not impossible in a field like this.

TO CATCH A THIEF

J Fanning | W J Haggas

Price or performance? What to focus on, the performance whereby he finished only eighth in the New Year’s Day trial, or the price he was, as short as 15-8 favourite against Penzance and co?

The outcome is more relevant than the odds, of course, but there was good reason he was so strong in the betting, given his rapidly rising profile and the significance of the stable, and it says something that they’re sticking to the programme with him.

JAMIE LYNCH’S VERDICT

A different Easter Classic, very much for the better, reinventing a characterless conditions race into a vibrant handicap that’s high on quality and quantity. The quality is brought by the overseas challengers at the top of the weights, the hardened Hooking from France and the embryonic Elegant Man from Ireland, either of whom could write a class cheque that the opposition can’t cash.

Penzance is at the epicentre of the British form-lines and probably hasn’t peaked yet, but to focus on the form is to underestimate the fact it’s a big-field handicap with many moving parts, and those particular parts could well bring out the best in DIDEROT who effectively won the qualifying tournament at Lingfield on this day last year and figures to be a value each-way play.

Watch every race of All-Weather Championships Finals Day at Newcastle live on Sky Sports Racing (Sky 415 | Virgin 519) on Friday 29th March.