Cast No Shadow looks to shake off his maiden tag for the Coral Racing Club this evening in the Class 5 Restricted Novice Stakes over five furlongs at Newcastle (18:30).

Read our Raceday LIVE preview below and join us ahead of the race for all the build-up and live updates from the track with the team and our lucky owners for the day across our social channels on X (@coral) and Instagram (@coralofficial).

Raceday LIVE Preview

Cast No Shadow takes on the five furlong trip at Newcastle for the third time in his career, following a short-head second place finish in his third career outing. Jason Hart, who was onboard that day, said that the stiff five furlong trip suited him perfectly and if there was an option to go back there, then he should. He did manage to finish fourth over the same track and trip the following time out, behind Sports Coach, whom he had beaten home in the previous race. 

Our colt arrives here off the back of another agonisingly close second place finish, having been denied by a short-head again in a five furlong contest at Southwell. However, in that race he did finish ahead of two of today's four opponents, Exponential and Tees Harriet.

Jason Hart takes the reins for Cast No Shadow's seventh run for the club this evening, having ridden him twice before.

WATCH: Cast No Shadow gets edged out in a thrilling photo finish at Southwell


Raceday message from Hugo Palmer

"Cast No Shadow is in good order and he lines up in a small field, where he’s a very warm favourite. Mathematically he has got 11lbs in hand and I hope that the cheekpieces will allow us to get the most out of him this time. Fingers crossed he can finally lose his maiden tag at Newcastle this evening."

Prize money and Owners for the Day

Today's Class 5 contest is worth £11,400 in total, with the winner set to scoop £6,156 for their lucky owners.

2nd place: £2,890 | 3rd place: £1,446 | 4th place: £723

As part of the Owner for the Day competitions we launch here on the Coral Racing Club website when one of the club's horses has been entered in a race, each of the 10 lucky winners who get the chance to attend as an owner will get to take home an equal 10% split of any prize money won.

Trainer and jockey form

Hugo Palmer has been in solid form as of late, with two winners from thirteen runners in the last fortnight, including four days ago with Siobhanbrogan at Wolverhampton. He's also had five other horses finish in the places in the same time period, with Roman Dragon and Box To Box finishing in the top three in valuable contests in Bahrain. 

Jason Hart has been in great form in the last fourteen days, winning four times from twenty three rides, including one for Hugo Palmer at Newcastle last week. He also found success in Bahrain two weeks ago, winning for John and Sean Quinn on Jm Jungle in the Al Sakhir Cup in Bahrain.

At The Races | VERDICT 

CAST NO SHADOW doesn't set the bar very high, but he fared better than Exponential (third) and Tees Harriet (fourth) when he was pipped by an upwardly-mobile filly in a maiden at Southwell last month. The Hugo Palmer-trained colt has to concede weight all round but with first-time cheekpieces applied, he rates the logical choice and is taken to cement his authority over his old rivals.

Today's opposition

• Exponential has finished in behind Cast No Shadow twice in his career so far. He was two-and-a-half lengths behind our gelding in third last time out, and he finished two place behind him on debut, by seven lengths. He did however finish ahead of Tees Harriet, who also lines up today, in his second run, but overturned that form last month.
  
  
• Tees Harriet runs for the third time in her career here today, having finished five lengths behind Cast No Shadow the last time she lined up. That performance was however a slight improvement on the sixth place finish she managed on debut. Regular partner Paddy Mathers takes the reins again today.
  
  
• Tantomile is another rival in the race that's making her third start this afternoon. After a disappointing, and distant, last place finish on debut, she showed improvement to finish in the middle of the pack at Lingfield over six furlongs last time out. She drops back down to five furlongs today and James Sullivan is her third jockey in three races tonight.

• Dandycan is the final opponent for Cast No Shadow this evening. The gelding made his debut in over a mile at Carlisle in September, finishing seventh of eight and not making an impression. He drops down to five furlongs for his second racecourse appearance, with Cam Hardie taking the reins.

 

   18:30 NEWCASTLE – LATEST BETTING HERE   

We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 18:00 to watch Cast No Shadow's next run for the club.