Latest News

By Gary Harley

Brilliant Lower Belford speedster All Stand ($1.65 on TAB fixed odds) will have the services of top jockey Kerrin McEvoy when he returns from a spell at Tuesday’s meeting at Newcastle Racecourse.

The four-year-old boasts a race record of four wins and four placings from 10 starts, but he hasn’t raced since January 18 when a close second in the $60,000 Malcolm Cusick Class 4 on Gosford Cup Day. He is topweight in the 900-metre Class 4 Handicap on Tuesday.

All Stand (Josh Adams) - will take stopping at Newcastle today. Image by Bradley Photographers

All Stand was an easy winner of a Randwick Highway Handicap on December 30 and two weeks earlier he beat boom three-year-old Victorem at Randwick.

Trainer Todd Howlett knows he has the best horse in the race and he is confident that his gelding is fit enough for his first start in three months.

“All Stand is fit and healthy and ready to win. He has had two jump outs on the grass at Muswellbrook and it is only a 900-metre race.

"We are fortunate enough to have Kerrin McEvoy on board and the rails barrier is another positive. All Stand has a big weight, but over the short course I don’t think that will stop him.

"He is a very fast horse but I would prefer him to sit off one or two. However, they will have to run along to lead him,” Howlett said.

Local trainer Alan Scorse has called on his Canberra-based nephew Patrick Scorse to come to Newcastle and ride track specialist Nadacheva ($6.50) in the 1500-metre Benchmark 65 Handicap - a heat of the Rising Star Series with the race for apprentice riders only.

Nadacheva has won five races, three of them on the Newcastle track and the seven-year-old's racing in good form. He was only beaten a length at Muswellbrook with 60½kg on his back on April 20.

With Scorse’s three-kilogram claim Nadacheva will carry 57½kg with the gelding raced by former Newcastle Knights CEO, Mike Armstrong, and Newcastle and Hunter businessmen, John Bartlett, Mark O’Neill, Ross Lewis and John Duncan among others.

Patrick Scorse is the son of former multiple Group 1-winning jockey John Scorse. The youngster has been chalking up the winners in the Southern Districts but he is yet to ride on the Newcastle track.

The renowned father and son training partnership of Peter and Paul Snowden have a good strike rate on the Newcastle track and on Tuesday the stable will saddle up another three runners. Their two-year-olds, King ($3.10 fav) and Calipari ($4.60) will clash in the 900m 2YO Maiden Handicap. King has speed to burn and he is second-up after finishing second at Gosford on Anzac Day. The colt will be hard to run down over 900m.

Calipari finished midfield on debut in the recent Wellington Boot and will need a sharp improvement. Kerrin McEvoy rides King and he will be aboard stablemate Poetic Chalmers ($3.10) in the final event, the 1200 metre Class 1 Handicap. The three-year-old resumes after a win at Newcastle and three Metropolitan placings during the spring last preparation.

View the final fields with full form & race replays for Newcastle here