USING the old maxim of leaving the best till last, patience will be required in order to wait for the nap selection of the day, Young Alex (5.10) in the closing six-furlong sprint at Newcastle.

While chatting with trainer Karl Burke on Middleham Low Moor recently, he admitted "winners were hard to come by at present".

In such situations the only thing to do is grin and bear it and far from being downhearted Karl was in fighting mood: "I have been here before and your luck has to change sooner or later," commented the master of Spigot Lodge.

His horses all certainly looked well enough in their coats as they bounded purposefully up the man-made eurotrack gallop, and just maybe Young Alex could be the one to set off a much-needed revival for Burke's stable.

Young Alex, rated 84 on the all-weather courses of Lingfield, Wolverhampton, and Southwell, is by no means so harshly-treated on grass, currently running off a rating of 71,

But that's not to say he's a mug when it comes to performing on the turf, in fact the gelding ran a couple of cracking races on turf at such prestigious courses as York and Newmarket about this time last year.

In the preceding mile-and-a-quarter Selling Stakes, Kingsdon (4.40) looks good value to follow up his cosy Hamilton win on Wednesday evening.

The mud was really flying at the Scottish course, but Jimmy FitzGerald's five-year-old proved equally effective on much quicker ground when romping home in a similar standard event at Ripon earlier this season.

With the weather forecast set fair a huge crowd is expected at Catterick's evening fixture, therefore it's strongly advised to arrive early to avoid the inevitable traffic congestion.

Punters hoping to get off to a flyer could do worse than have a few quid each-way on Perchancer (5.50) in the opening Amateur Riders' Handicap.

Trainer Patrick Haslam sends his son Ben out to pilot the top-weight, fully capable of trouncing what appears to be a pretty modest bunch.

Later fancies include Young Rosein (7.20), expected to respond well to the fitting of blinkers, plus Al Muallim (7.50), weighted to blow away his rivals in the five-furlong Claiming Stakes.

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