Newcastle Preview: Mission not Impossible for Waggott’s sprinter

Mission Impossible has been knocking on the door of late and with underfoot conditions to suit can score a deserved success in the 6f handicap at Newcastle this evening (8.15).

The Tracy Waggott trained gelding has won three of his 10 starts at the track, and all of those successes come with cut in the ground.

The nine-year-old comes into the contest in good form having finished runner-up in his last two starts, and although Mission Impossible has gone up 3lb for the last of those he is still 4lb lower than when last successful at Thirsk.

That gives the son of Kyllachy every chance at the weights, especially now getting the soft ground that he relishes.

Another plus is that Mission Impossible has bagged a decent draw in stall 17, and with Paul Mulrennan in the saddle a big run looks assured.

Distant Past ran a cracker when runner-up last time out and appears to have been found a nice opportunity to go one better in the 5f handicap (7.10).

The three-year-old stuck to the task well to be beaten just 1 1/4 lengths by War Spirit in a decent class 4 contest on soft ground at Haydock, and now drops down into class 5 company.

The gives the Kevin Ryan trained gelding major claims in what is a weak looking race, especially as Distant Past’s main rival Rozene has shown her best form on a quick surface.

In the closing 1m 6f handicap (8.45), Authentication looks worth siding with having dropped markedly in the weights.

Mel Brittain’s gelding was in good form in 2012, winning a 1m 6f contest at Catterick by nine lengths off a mark of 50 before following up off 56 on soft ground at Ffos Las over 1m 7f.

The five-year-old has since failed to get his head in front since, but Authentication’s handicap mark has fallen to just 49 as a result and that makes the son of Authorized look too well-treated to ignore on ground that will hold no fears.