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Alan in form with 8.5 and 4.8 single winners
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Bonito defends his perfect Newcastle record
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Moon Flight run behind smart Cover Up a plus
One of the success stories of the winter has been Jim Goldie's Bonito Cavalo who just keeps on winning. His current run is five on the spin, and for four of those he's been a very short price. Today he's the biggest since his run started and the 7/24.50 will do for me.
All five of his wins have come at Newcastle and he's received a perfect ride on each occasion from Paul Mulrennan - held up, delivered late and finishing to the stands' side rail.
He landed a 0-57 last time from a mark of 67 and another 7lb rise puts him into a much better class of race, but he wasn't tested at all recently and his handicap success was the quicker of the two divisions.
Indeed, it looked as though he had a bit more up the cuff recently and with him winning with a bit in hand in this run, I am backing another to be chalked off.
Moon Flight is another who has enjoyed a good winter and goes well at Newcastle, and Linda Perratt's 4yo is worth another go at 7/24.50 for Sunday.
He was most unfortunate last time to get put in his place by John Gosden's Cover Up in the Godolphin blue in a 0-95, and a 3L defeat was not a disaster as rarely will he be bumping into anything of that level again.
There's absolutely nothing of that calibre here and three of his middle sectionals against Cover Up were pretty much on par with the winner last time, it was only his final furlong where he paid for trying to race against a smart rival and he clocked a closing furlong a third of a second slower.
He previously won over Newcastle's 5f having to circumnavigate the whole field, and considering he runs from the same mark of 79 from his last race, his liking for the track can continue.