Paul Mulrennan column: the inside track on my Saturday rides and more

I haven’t managed to find a ride in the feature Jenningsbet Northumberland Plate, but I’ll head back north to on Saturday for three rides, with

Faylaq

(2.35pm) the highlight in the consolation race, the Jenningsbet Northumberland Vase. 

Faylaq hasn’t won since late 2019, but he always runs his usual solid race, posting many a placed finish in competitive handicaps, including in the Sky Bet Sunday Series. He finished a close third to on his first attempt over two miles in last year’s Northumberland Vase. 

He’s similar to in that it usually suits him to ‘fluff the start,’ he likes to take his time before working his way into contention, as was the case at Hamilton recently. I can see him running well again. 

I also partner

Soowaih

(5.25pm) for Jim Goldie, and he’s another with some respectable Newcastle efforts on his CV. He’s a lovely big horse with a nice pedigree, who joined the yard last autumn for 23,000gns. He’ll stay – is closely related to the 1m5f-2m AW winner – and we just need to get him to switch off and relax and he usually comes on good. 

Finally, I will look forward to picking up the spare on

Documenting

(3.40pm). I haven’t ridden him previously but know that he has been a fantastic servant to Kevin Frost, earning over £215,000 in total prize money. He was a comfortable winner at Chelmsford City in April from a 5lb lower mark. 

Newcastle returns for the first time since mid-May for their three-day Northumberland Plate Festival. The Tapeta track will almost certainly be riding deep and slow, with the feeling that you will get from riding a horse on there like riding in a bumper. 

Newcastle is the stiffest of all the All-Weather tracks anyway, but it has just been so dry and warm lately, and the Tapeta surface responds more favourably to moisture and rain. It is the worst time of the year to stage a feature meeting there. Newcastle is a much better track, the best of all the AW tracks, to ride during the winter months, so it is going to be hard work for the horses. 

I was thrilled to ride a treble at Ayr last Saturday and particularly pleased to see Azure Blue and bounce right back to form. 

Whatever the outcome for Azure Blue in the Land O’Burns Stakes, we were always going to learn something more about her, and the plan came together which opens more doors. She has always shown plenty of speed and even though she was little off the pace at Ayr, it is a sharp five furlongs there. She came home strongly, so a stiff five furlongs would be ideal. 

In retrospect, we probably went back a bit quickly asking her to reappear at Haydock Park, but it is also important to acknowledge that the ground was bottomless. She doesn’t mind a bit of juice in the ground, and we certainly wouldn’t want it any quicker than it was up at Ayr, but Haydock was extreme – very heavy and holding ground. 

Hopefully, her win will have offered a small tonic to part-owner Linda Appleton (and her husband Peter) as Linda continues to undergo hospital rehabilitation following a serious accident. We’re all thinking of you Linda. 

Michael (Dods) will formulate the next steps for Azure Blue and has given her options in the Barberstown Sapphire Stakes (Curragh, 20th July) and the King George Qatar Stakes (Goodwood; 2nd August). 

Euchen Glen has been a wonderful horse for Jim (Goldie) and his owner over many years, and still retains plenty of enthusiasm and ability for his age. I don’t know exactly what the next plan is, but I’d imagine that the Old Newton Cup at Haydock (6th July) will be a possibility. 

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Eternal Sunshine took a six-furlong Classified Stakes at on Monday, and her family - sister to Sound Of Iona, Oriental Lilly, Rory, and Bonito Cavalo - have all done well previously for . The majority of those were late-maturing individuals who progressed with racing. She is similar in that respect and, starting at the right end of the handicap (OR 50), she’s still green and inexperienced. She wasn’t hanging, simply lugging away from the crowd like plenty of others do at Thirsk. It is important to remember that until that point, she had never been in front in a race in her life. It is all a learning curve, and it always takes time for the penny to drop. 

I have four booked rides at Newcastle on Friday evening, beginning with

Rory

(4.55pm). I thought he ran a great race from a poor draw at Ayr (third) last time. I’m much less concerned about being drawn in stall 1 at Newcastle because he’s a ‘warm-up’ horse, who needs cover and the opportunity to come through rivals, so you have to take your time with him anyway. Even if he was drawn well around a bend somewhere, he isn’t the type of horse to be making the running. He needs riding for luck. 

Prince Of Zenda

contests the Gosforth Park Cup (5.25pm). I spoke to about him yesterday and know that he has the pace to cope with dropping back to five furlongs at a track which clearly suits. The pace he is showing - has also won around Chester - offers encouragement, although those tactics are better suited to riding Newcastle in the winter (on a faster surface). Stamina will also be of importance, and he has won over 6f and 7f. 

Lucinda Russell’s

Johnny Ringo

(6.35pm) is having his first start back from wind surgery, so we will wait and see how he fares, while

Global Humor

(8.20pm) takes his chance in the finale in the black and white silks of ardent Newcastle United supporter Paul Stewart. Global Humor, a C&D winner (2lb lower mark) in February, needs a good strong pace to aim at, but has been doing okay on the Scottish circuit at Ayr, Hamilton, Park and Musselburgh. 

The Graham Lee IJF Fund Stable Staff Stakes will take place under British Horseracing Authority Rules at Thirsk on Friday 26th July. The race which is exclusively for stable staff is scheduled during the Go Racing In Yorkshire Festival Week and has been kindly sponsored by SkyBet. 

The race, staged over a mile, is limited to twelve runners, and will see professional jockeys – me included, going back to my roots - leading out the amazing stable staff who will be doing their own fundraising to support Graham Lee and the Injured Jockeys Fund. 

Trainers kindly supplying runners include Paul Midgley, Karl Burke, Michael Dods, Roger Fell, John Quinn and Brian Ellison, with some stable staff already confirmed to ride including Grace Bell, Louise Wolfrey, and Philip Thomas.