Owhatanight is one to remember at Southwell
Owhatanight should provide a favourable conclusion to Southwell’s card in the Play 4 To Win At Betway Classified Stakes tomorrow.
Mike Murphy’s grey pays his first visit here, having demonstrated in his three starts last month that he is well up to adding to his career tally in this moderate class.
Owhatanight’s haul, after seven attempts, stands at one victory – when he held on by a nose over a furlong further than this in a Wolverhampton seller early in the new year.
That was a significant improvement on previous efforts – and although the four-year-old did not immediately build on it when a wellbeaten favourite dropped to this trip at Chelmsford next time, his most recent performance was more like it again.
He failed to justify favouritism once more but was beaten under a length and, sticking to the same six-furlong trip, at this very realistic level from an unchanged mark, he has sound prospects of making his Fibresand de- but a winning one.
In the opening Bombardier Handicap, Glory Of Paris can be king of the sand for the second successive Sunday.
Phil Kirby’s seven-year-old returned to winning form for the first time in more than two years, over this seven furlongs last weekend.
He was always on top, and the 4lb penalty still leaves him well over a stone lower than ratings which have proved within his compass in the past.
The following Betway Handicap may well go to Centurion Song. Brian Meehan’s gelding has been right in the thick of it over this course and distance the last twice, prevailing by a head just after Christmas and then denied by a nose in second last month.
The experienced Martin Dwyer returns to replace 7lb claimer Callum Hutchinson, but Centurion Song still receives 4lb from the reopposing Fantasy Keeper, who beat him so narrowly last time.
Caribeno could still have plenty of scope off his current rating as he bids for a hat-trick, up in trip, in the Heed Your Hunch At Betway Handicap. Following in a rich tradition for his stable, the four-year-old is on an upward curve since beginning his handicap career. He is a stone higher than before his first success, at Catterick in the summer.
Caribeno was then gelded and, after a six-month break, returned to the all-weather with an eyecatching new-year victory at Lingfield, where he took time to warm up over a mile and a half but was strong at the finish. It will be no surprise to see further progress over another two furlongs on the Fibresand.
Aria Rose is also chasing a hat-trick and could well land it in the Betway Selling Handicap, perhaps initiating a double for the Murphy yard.
Steve Bruce has dropped a tactical hint ahead of Newcastle United's visit to Stamford Bridge.
Bruce has often changed formation – and fielded a back five – for games against the Premier League’s top-six teams.
However, United’s head coach – who has lost striker Callum Wilson for up to eight weeks – has hinted that he will stick with the system he has used since Graeme Jones was appointed as his assistant late last month.
Asked if he would change approach following the loss of Wilson, Bruce said: “I feel a bit like that for months, to be brutally honest.
"We’ve been without our better players.
"Look, it’s always somebody’s opportunity. Can they come and grasp it?
"I don’t think the approach is going to be any different.
"We’ve certainly decided that this is going to be the way forward for us.”
Bruce also lost defenders Fabian Schar and Javier Manquillo in last weekend’s 3-2 win over Southampton at St James’s Park.
Asked about the club’s luck with injuries, Bruce said: “It hasn’t been great, I have to tell you. We’ve been blighted by injury and illness.
"When I see a big team like Tottenham, and how reliant they are on somebody like (Harry) Kane, them, of course, you do need your big players, especially at the top end of the pitch.
"Let’s hope we can cope with it.
"Let’s hope somebody can step up to the mark.
"We’ve got players who are capable. Let’s hope they can grasp it.”