Race In Focus: Tom Collins pinpoints two horses worth backing in the Northumberland Plate

If a trainer could only run their horses at one racetrack, Malton-based Brian Ellison wouldn’t hesitate in choosing Newcastle. 

The dual-purpose handler has had more winners and runners on the flat at Gosforth Park than any other venue over the last five years (340 of his 1350 runners in that timeframe have competed here, 25%), yet Newcastle’s biggest race continues to elude him.

Ellison has been desperate to win the Northumberland Plate (3.30 Newcastle) since he began training - he was born on Plate day in 1952 - and he came extremely close to recording his first success in the 2m½f contest back in 2016, when Seamour was run down by the Godolphin-owned Antiquarium close to home.

Seymour came back to finish 12th in this race a year later, but suffered an injury that forced him to miss the whole of 2018 and only qualified for the consolation race in 2019, in which he finished a creditable fourth.

Ellison hasn’t had a horse in his stable that possesses the talent and required stamina to win the Northumberland Plate since, but he clearly wanted that to change as he spent 65,000gns on Onesmoothoperator at the Horses-In-Training Sales last October.

A son of 2011 Florida Derby winner Dialed In out of a well-bred but winless mare called Sueno D’Oro, Onesmoothoperator is bred to thrive on synthetic surfaces and made a good start to his career for former trainer David Simcock when he landed a 1m2f maiden at Newcastle in March 2021.

He had been frustrating in five subsequent runs for that yard - runner-up on three separate occasions - before being sold, but Ellison has already eked out a fair bit of improvement, which has seen his official rating rise from 81 to 98.

Onesmoothoperator has been excellently campaigned by Ellison, who has made sure that he gained valuable experience while also being able to sneak into the bottom of the weights for his primary target. His most recent effort at York can be forgiven as that Listed contest was run at a dawdle and didn’t suit his closing tactics, while his prior efforts suggest he’s more than capable of contending a race of this nature.

It can only be seen as a positive that Ben Robinson, who rode last year’s winner Nicholas T, takes the ride and he’s 3lb well-in off this mark. Granted a fast pace to chase, he’s by far the most intriguing horse in the field and therefore my main fancy.

Last year’s third Rajinsky, fourth-home Island Brave and sixth-placed Trueshan warrant attention, albeit the latter will have to produce a career-best off his handicap mark of 120, but I want to bypass them in favour of Summer’s Knight, who is a good back-up bet behind Onesmoothoperator.

Sir Mark Prescott’s four-year-old has been crying out for a step up to this trip and has form with the likes of Tashkhan last season, which makes him look well-treated off a mark of 96. Although he had a pretty hard campaign in 2021, Summer’s Knight showed great resilience and a fantastic constitution to win five of his eight starts. 

He was clearly unfavoured by racing away from a huge rail bias at Newmarket on his return to action 43 days ago, but that run will have blown the cobwebs away. Although he’s unproven on the all-weather, that seems to have been factored into his rather tasty price.

Recommended bets

Onesmoothoperator (3.30 Newcastle) @ 10
Summer’s Knight (3.30 Newcastle) @ 13.5