Withhold hot favourite for Saturday’s Northumberland Plate

Latest odds for Newcastle contest

Withhold has been installed as the 4/1 favourite to land the 2018 Northumberland Plate following the latest entry stage for the Newcastle feature.

Roger Charlton’s runner was last seen in October of last year when a dominant performance saw him bolt up to win the Cesarewitch Handicap by over 3l to give our traders a bloody nose.

The five-year-old went off as the 5/1 favourite at Newmarket eight months ago and looks set to be an even shorter price in the North East this coming Saturday.

He’ll face stiff competition for the 2m all-weather contest from Dubawi Fifty who was narrowly touched off in the Ascot Stakes last week by Lagostovegas.

Karen McLintock’s charge has won just two of his seven runs at Newcastle and is the 7/1 second-favourite to land the Plate.

Lagostovegas himself is rated a 9/1 chance following last week’s victory at Royal Ascot. The six-year-old has won on the flat and over jumps before now but is untested on the tapeta surface. He shares that price with Higher Power who won the renewal last year for James Fanshawe.

Amazing Red rounds out the sub-10/1 contenders at 9/1. Ed Dunlop’s hopeful won last time out at Newmarket and has also triumphed over the distance on Kempton’s all-weather course earlier this year.

All have game chances. But it’s Withhold who the Coral traders fear most.

“Withhold was the subject of one of the biggest gambles of the whole of the flat season last year, and never gave his backers a moment’s worry when turning the Cesarewitch into a procession.”