Jim Crowley “Amazing Red ticks all the boxes for Northumberland Plate”

I’ve got twelve rides on Saturday starting with five at Newcastle before driving down to Doncaster for the evening card there where I have seven. Twelve rides in a day is a lot. It’s going to be a tough physical challenge. I have to ride light on one so will have to have a sweat in the bath in the morning.  

I tend to find with spells like these that the more rides I have in a day the better I get and whilst it will be a long day I’m really looking forward to it. When you go into these days you start off hoping for two or three winners and then try and get onto a bit of a streak if you can.

The key will be keeping my concentration up throughout, riding with the same intensity in the 9.00pm as you do in the 12.20pm. I won’t get home until gone midnight but hopefully it will be worth it and I can ride a few winners.

Newcastle

12.20 – Ekhtiyaar

He’s a lovely horse and I think that the surface should suit him here, despite it being his first start on the artificial surface. He tends to like slow ground so given the way Newcastle’s surface is riding I think he’ll have a great chance. I’m hoping he can kick my day off with a winner.

12.55 – Yafta

I’m really looking forward to this one. He was only just touched off last time. He has a lovely weight on his back and is a big strong horse. The horse I like in the race is Dream of Dreams for Sir Michael Stoute that I won on last season. But I wouldn’t swap my lad. It looks the perfect race for him to go for. I think he deserves to be favourite. It’s very competitive. Not much between the lot of them.

1.30 – Dannyday

This horse is lightly raced and he won this race two years ago. He’s only had two runs since then. He may have found Ascot just stretched him a little bit over two and a half miles. However ran a very nice race that day, travelling well into the straight and just couldn’t finish it out. Now back at two miles he’s going to have a good chance.

2.05 – Amazing Red

This is a great ride to pick up in the big race. He’s the second favourite, is well in on his current handicap mark and is improving all the time. He looks like a progressive horse and he has good form on surfaces like this, which bodes well. He’s won over various trips,  he ticks all the boxes and has a great chance.

I won the Northumberland Plate on the grass, and have ridden it a couple of times on the all-weather. Positioning is even more crucial now on the all-weather, as everybody races much tighter. However out of all the all-weather tracks Newcastle is probably the fairest. This horse is drawn eight which is certainly not an issue so fingers crossed for a big one.

2.40 – Belisa

I haven’t ridden for Ivan Furtado much but he does well with his horses. This is another horse that will hopefully like the surface and stepping up to a mile and a half should suit. We’re hopeful of a good run.

Doncaster

6.00 – King of Nepal

I haven’t ridden this horse before and it will be its first run on grass. Doncaster is a fair track, with no undulations, so hopefully the all-weather experience can translate across.

6.30 – Secret Vote

Richard Hannon’s two year olds are starting to come out and run well. I rode a nice two year old winner for him on Thursday. This horse is owned by Qatar Racing, is nicely bred and should go well. There are two winners in the field here which may be tough to beat, but we’re hopeful of a good run.

7.00 – Tashaaboh

He has a great chance. I think he should be winning. He ran very well on his comeback run at Lingfield over six furlongs. I’d definitely say he is my best ride at Doncaster on Saturday evening.

7.30 – Harrogate

The handicapper has absolutely smashed him. He put him up eleven pounds after he won at Thirsk which seemed very harsh. He was then firmly put in his place next time out at Ripon. He is still on the same mark but hopefully he can prove that he’s worthy of it.

8.00 – Operative

He’s a nice little horse and I rode him when he was second in a handicap two years ago at Ascot. He’s got plenty of ability, although can be difficult to ride at times, but he’s more than capable of winning and certainly has an each way chance here.

8.30 – So Hoity Toity

He hasn’t shown a great deal on his appearances so far, and would need to step up quite a bit on his form so far to get involved here. Hopefully he can do so.

9.00 – My Fantasea

He has shown glimpses of ability on the all-weather, particularly finishing second at Wolverhampton over a mile and a half. There’s definitely something there and fingers cross Ian and I can team up and get a winner to finish on.

Jim