1:00 Catterick – Jaramillo
JARAMILLO was very progressive when trained by Roger Varian on the flat, winning 2 of his 8 starts and reaching a rating of 85 when landing his final start for the yard at Newcastle in October.
He made his hurdles debut for Neil Mulholland at Warwick last month and was still in with some sort of chance when falling at the 2nd last. It is very debatable whether he would have beaten the winner Saint Segal, who had finished 2nd in a Grade 1 at Chepstow on his previous start and is probably well above average, but he looked certain to finish in the front 2.
Provided he is over that fall, he looks to have shown enough ability to win a race of this nature.
3:40 Catterick – Victory Echo
A winner of 2 of his 19 starts under rules for Maurice Barnes, VICTORY ECHO will be running on a career low mark of 100 at Catterick on Friday.
He is fully 12lbs lower than for his last win at Newcastle in December 2020, but there have been signs recently that he is reaching the well-handicapped stage and his connections look to have found him a very winnable opportunity. He finished 3rd over this course and distance last week, beaten just 3-lengths by Relkadam, so we know that he will handle the undulations of Catterick.
He probably hit the front too soon on that occasion and was slightly unlucky to be headed in the closing stages, but with a decent pace to track in this field, he should be able to make amends as he drops down into Class 5 for the first time over fences.
