Tuesday 12th August 2008
Newcombe hoping for third ‘Grey day’
All set for August 16's Soccer Saturday Super 6 Grey Horse Handicap
TONY Newcombe is aiming to land a third Soccer Saturday Super 6 Grey Horse Handicap this Saturday (2.55pm).
Devon-based Newcombe saddled Middleton Grey to record back-to-back victories in 2004 and 2005, while the tough campaigner also finished fourth in 2006 and eighth last year.
This year he is set to be represented by Witchry. The six-year-old surprised connections when winning a six-furlong handicap on soft ground at Chepstow in May and posted a decent effort over the distance when fourth of 17 behind Makshoof at Haydock last time.
Newcombe revealed today: "Witchry wouldn’t have the turn of foot of Middleton Grey but as long as it’s not over-competitive, he’ll go there with a really good chance.
"Witchry won on easy ground at Chepstow a couple of months back and has run fourth on both starts since. We’ve had him a little while now and we didn’t think he went in the soft - we actually kept him away from soft ground - so when he won at Chepstow, that gave us another dimension to his racing. We can now run him on soft and we can also run him over a bit further.
"He’s one of the best bred horses in the world, being by Green Desert out of Indian Skimmer. If you go through the pedigree, you’d expect him to get the mile, so a stiff six and an uphill finish should be tailor-made for him. The ground doesn’t matter, although the easier the better, and he is working well at home. We’re looking for a big run."
