As the Cheltenham Festival began to creep closer in the National Hunt sphere, the all-weather flat season continued to plug on at the same pace. A midweek meeting at Newcastle would take place with plenty of low grade races, supported by the toughest of racegoers who braved the wintry conditions. The seemingly never-ending weather front of rain showed no signs of stopping but it wouldn't deter the athletes and horses involved. A seven race card would be made of some modest but informative contests on Gosforth Park.

Race One: The Read Meg Nicholls' Blog At BetMGM.co.uk Handicap - Class Six - One Mile, Four Furlongs - Runners:
The opening contest would be an interesting one as it contained a majority of potentially improving three year olds over the stamina test of a mile and a half. Despite the class six status, the horses involved have been brought along gradually in handicaps and could capitalise over this more suitable test.

Heading the weights would be Lord Mayor, who made the trip North from the Andrew Balding stable. The gelding has improved with each run, finishing third on his final novice start in December and then taking that place once again at Lingfield over a slightly shorter trip. Charlie Johnston's Sweet Love was kept busier as a juvenile last year, but she is bred for stamina so this test could be right up her street. Her previous best finish came over a mile when third. The Middleham Park Racing-owned Wicksey has already shown the benefit of a switch to handicaps as Ben Haslam's gelding made a winning start to 2026 just last week. The well bred gelding looked to enjoy the ten furlong trip here and stepped further up in trip for an attempt at the double. Newmarket challenger Cospicua lined up for the James Tate and is another recent winner in the line up. The filly improved on all her previous form to win at this trip at Kempton a few weeks ago and remained over to further progress. Michael Buckley's white and black silks will be seen more regularly at Cheltenham in the upcoming weeks, but the colours would be carried by Contemplation. James Ferguson's lightly raced gelding is another from a talented family and would make his handicap debut here following some low key efforts in novice company. Another stable which does well at this time of the year is Archie Watson's. He would saddle the filly Very Demure in this contest and she would weaken in the closing stages over ten furlongs here last week; so needed to improve. Another Newmarket based runner would be Trust No One, from the Lemos de Souza stable. The gelding has already raced three times this year, winning here in January and then placing on his next two starts. The latest of those came when chasing home Wicksey here last week over ten furlongs. Stephen Hanlon has recently taken over the keys at Ann Duffield's yard and would be looking for an early success with Red House. The chestnut gelding showed promise here when fourth over a mile at the end of last year, but took a step backwards over seven furlongs recently and this would be a bigger step up in distance. The John Butler has enjoyed plenty of success in races of this nature and he would saddle Fallacious Promise in this contest. He would be another to show minimal ability on track so far, but his form has so far come over shorter than ideal distances. Completing the field would be Sunday Sinatra from the Ollie Sangster stable. The three year old hadn't shown much promise earlier in his career until a third over ten furlongs here two starts ago. He was unable to back that effort up however last week in a similar contest.

Winner:

Race Two: The Bet £10 Get £40 With BetMGM Hanidcap - Class Six - Six Furlongs - Runners: 

Next up would be another interesting low grade handicap which is open to improving three year olds, but this time over the sprint trip of six furlongs. It is races like these in which horses finally unleash their potential and can go on to produce a streak of wins in the future.

Carrying top weight in this contest would be The Tunguska Event from the John and Sean Quinn stable. The gelding landed his first career win in a low grade nursery handicap here last autumn, but hasn't added to that tally. He would run his best race since then last time out with a close up fourth over five furlongs here. Another Malton-based runner would be Mademoiselle Belle for the Brian Ellison yard. The filly has seen her form improve of late, finishing either second or third in her last five starts, much to the frustration of her connections. Ollie Sangster would send up his filly Buckland Belle for this contest and she is more lightly raced than some of her rivals. She has been tried over a range of distances so far on the all-weather and fared no better than fifth so far. Kevin Ryan is a trainer to follow with unexposed three year olds in low grade handicaps and he would run one here in the form of Merpati Sejoli. The lightly raced gelding finished down the order in three novice races last season, but has been given time to strengthen up for his first start since October. Middleham trainer Patrick Neville would have one eye on Cheltenham in a few weeks as well as have runners here as he saddled Lina Codina for the first time. The filly showed limited ability for the Nigel Tinkler stable and hopes are pinned on a new environment bringing about improvement. Another runner from the Middleham hub would be Stephen Hanlon's Runninman. He had previously looked outpaced over sprint trips last season, but has improved over seven furlongs with a trio of third placings of late and reverted back in trip. Races like these are bread and butter for the Mick and David Easterby stable and they would be represented by the gelding Ganthorpe. He comes from a speedy family, but slow starts have hampered his career so far, so needs to iron those issues out. Jedd O'Keeffe is another trainer who does well in this kind of event and would rely on the returning Dream Forever here. The son of Dream Ahead has raced only over six furlongs to date, but has finished no better than sixth. This would also be his first start since the end of last September. Ben Haslam would saddle Charcon in this contest and the grey filly had shown a small amount of ability at the end of last year with a fourth and fifth at Newcastle, which hinted that she could pick up a race like this in the near future. Nigel Tinkler would saddle the lowly rated Auspicious, who was in winning action here when last seen. The gelding found a large chunk of improvement that day, but hasn't been since September. Yet another popular Northern stable with a runner here would be Phil Kirby with Container Express. The gelding landed his only win to date over course and distance in a selling contest last winter, but hasn't come close to winning since then. This remained an open contest so needed to return to his best here. A second runner for the Ben Haslam stable would be Liquid Cooled. The son of Mehmas has been tried over various distances without much success, but has now been gelded ahead of his handicap debut so there could be some improvement to unlock. Micky Hammond would also represent Middleham with his filly Resdev Kisses. She has looked exposed in eight starts so far, failing to trouble the judge, but she has only raced over five furlongs. This extra furlong could produce a little bit extra. Richard Fahey would be the next big name trainer with an entry here, which came in the form of What A Tahoo. Like a number of her rivals, the filly has struggled to make an impact in novice company so far and would step into handicap company for the first time. Completing the field would be Amazon Jungle as runners from the John and Sean Quinn stable bookended the racecard. The gelding was slow from the stalls on his latest start, but that came after a near six month absence from the track, so could improve from that performance. 

Winner:

Race Three: The Always Gamble Responsibly At BetMGM Novice Stakes - Class Four - One Mile - Runners:
Next up came on the smallest fields of the evening, but one of the most fascinating races on the card. This class four novice took place over the full length of the mile straight and had the potential to produce more than a few horses to follow this season.

Heading the card would be the long absent Asuka, trained by George Boughey. The well bred four year old made a very impressive winning debut at Newmarket in August 2024 and was quietly considered for the Classics. He would then miss the whole of 2025 and has plenty of lost time to make up on. Bringing more recent winning form to the table would be Ted Le Saux. Andrew Balding's four year old is bred for stamina and ground out a stylish win over course and distance in January last time out. The older horse in the lineup would be Masterpiece, now trained by Patrick Morris. The grey six year old has a top class pedigree for the flat, but began life in bumpers. He would win on the jumps course a few years ago, but this would be a belated debut on the flat. Next up would be the first of the maidens, Grant Tuer's Multaneighttothree. The gelding was well beaten on debut, but finished a bit closer when fifth in a similar event here a week ago. The newcomer in the field would be the filly Finally Escaped from the Roger Fell yard. The daughter of Mohaather is modestly bred, but could have a future further down the line after this contest. A second newcomer would come in the form of Ivan Furtado's 

Race Four: The Win £250,000 With BetMGM's Golden Goals Handicap - Class Five - One Mile - Runners:

Race Five: The Create Your Bet Builders At Midnite Classified Stakes - Class Six - Six Furlongs - Runners:

Race Six: The Midnite: Built For 2026 Not 2006 Handicap - Class Five - Six Furlongs - Runners: