Newbury Preview: Tullia fancied to follow-up

The mud-loving Tullia scored in emphatic style last time out and looks up to defying a 6lb penalty to follow-up in the 4.30 at Newbury today.

The William Knight trained filly bounced back to form when slamming Sweet Martoni by 3 1/4 lengths on heavy ground at Windsor 11 days ago, staying on powerfully under jockey Luke Morris to win going away despite jinking right near the finish.

It was a performance which suggested Tullia needing keeping onside while conditions where in her favour, and it’s no surprise to see connections turn the daughter of Foostepsinthesand out quickly under a penalty before the assessor has his say.

Testing conditions are what Tullia needs to be seen at her best, and she has only once finished out of the frame in seven starts on soft ground or worse.

This contest doesn’t look any tougher than the Windsor race, and with Morris once again in the saddle Tullia is going to be tough to beat under her optimum conditions.

Hot Coffee runs off a career-low mark in the 1m 2f handicap (3.55) and looks decent value to take advantage and land the spoils now dropped in grade.

Trained in Cheshire by Tom Dascombe, the filly looked a smart prospect when winning by fourlengths on debut at Haydock, and ran well on handicap debut on her final start of 2013 when third at Chester off a mark of 90.

Hot Coffee then posted a solid effort on seasonal reappearance when fourth of 13 to Chatez in the class 2 Betfred Silver Bowl at Haydock on soft ground off 90 in a race which thrown up plenty of subsequent winners.

The three-year-old also ran well when sixth of 14 to Magigue off a mark of 87 in a class 3 contest at Goodwood three starts back, and has since posted creditable efforts to finish fourth and sixth in similar grade affairs at Doncaster and Haydock.

The daughter of Haatef has since been eased a further 3lb, and now drops into class 4 company for the first time off a rating of just 83.

That makes Hot Coffee dangerously well-treated on the pick of her form, especially if the fitting of the cheekpieces for the first time have the desired effect.