Coral Racing Ambassador, Hugo Palmer, previews the chances of his one runner on All-Weather Finals Day at Newcastle, Nolton Cross, who could run a big race if conditions suit.

16:10 Newcastle – Nolton Cross

Having kept this horse busy on the all-weather in the last couple of months, the owners and I were keen to have a crack at a big prize on Finals Day. There is excellent prize money on offer and all too often we complain there isn’t enough prize money so when it’s there, we’d be foolish not to go after some of it.

That said, we’re under no illusions that this mile and a quarter trip isn’t the optimum for this horse, ideally we’d be going 1 ½ miles with him. As there isn’t a race over that trip here, we had the choice of stepping up in trip to two miles – which we’ve tried and it didn’t work – or dropping back to ten furlongs.

We’ve opted for the latter in the hope that with 16 runners and a big prize pot up for grabs, there will be a strong gallop early on and that will turn it into a testing mile and a quarter that brings his stamina into play. If that was the way it unfolded it could just be run to suit him, and in that case, he could pick up some of the big prize pot on offer.

Hugo Palmer, Coral Racing Ambassador