Newcastle Preview: My Son Max holds major claims

The soft ground at Newcastle today will hold no fears for My Son Max and he looks weighted to go well at a big price in the 6f handicap (5.00).

The gelding is a seven-time winer who was rated 87 at his peak and is now running off a rating of just 71.

The seven-year-old’s last success came in a claimer at Beverley on his penultimate outing where he stayed on strongly to score by 1/2 a length.

My Son Max then joined the Cheshire-based yard of Richard Ford and ran really well to finish fourth to Prince Jock over 7f on the beach at Laytown in Ireland, racing up with the pace until fading close home.

That run suggested that My Son Max retained enough ability to win a race of this nature off his current mark, and the drop back to 6f looks sure to suit.

The son of Avonbridge also boasts some solid form on soft ground, including when placed at Windsor in a class 4 contest back in 2013 off 82, and is well handicapped in this class 6 contest off 11lb lower if building on his latest effort.

The lightly-raced Lady Yeats has been given a chance by the assessor and can take advantage to land the 2m handicap (4.00).

The George Moore trained filly hinted at ability in three maiden runs last year, and ran out an impressive winner on handicap debut over 1m 2f at Redcar back in April when scoring by two lengths off an opening mark of 68.

The three-year-old now gets into this off just 2lb higher, having been far from disgraced in three subsequent runs.

They include a decent fifth of 9 to the now 106-rated Vent De Force in a class 4 contest on soft ground at Haydock two starts back, and the form of that race looks strong in the context of this lower grade class 5 affair.

Lady Yeats also remains open to further improvement after just seven starts, handles soft ground, and comes into the contest fresh after just four runs this season.

In the 6f handicap (4.30), Penny Garcia is too well-treated to ignore now that underfoot conditions have come in her favour.