Horse Racing Tips: Rhys Williams' NAP is a winning pointer at Newcastle

Poor jumping masked true talent in points

Newcastle 13:00: Whelans Bridge 1pt win 9/1

There was plenty of talk about Tfou prior to his debut at Ayr and he ran well in defeat having shown greenness at various stages. He looks the right favourite but I can let him win without backing him at that price given there are a few dangers.

Hidden Heroics and Tough Out both started their careers in the Irish pointing field and have transferred the ability they showed there to hurdling. The former has had a wind op since his last run and faces an easier task than on both hurdling starts but it's another horse who has run in Irish points who appeals at the prices.

Whelans Bridge had two runs and his jumping didn't help his cause on either occasion. On debut at Tipperary, he was held up before making headway going down the back straight for the final time and moved into a close fourth turning out of the back straight.

He was angled out in the home straight and was pushed along to be about a length behind Western Flyer at 2 out but Whelans Bridge made an awful mistake and was down on his nose. He lost all momentum and did well to finish third in the circumstances behind two horses who have run well under rules since.

He won on his second start at Lisronagh despite a collection of mistakes. He made mistakes at 5, 4 and 3 out but was still travelling well at the back of the leading group of four turning towards 2 out. He jumped that in third but he got in too close and briefly dropped back into fourth before coming under pressure and making a strong run on the outside to be upsides Charlie Uberalles at the last.

Once again, Whelans Bridge wasn't fluent but he dug in for pressure on the run in to win by three quarters of a length. The third, Caballo Diablo, chased home Forward Plan next time while Tiger Jet, who has since shown some ability under rules, was back in fifth.

While the bare form of that win isn't anything out of the ordinary, that Whelans Bridge was able to win despite making mistakes at all of the last five fences is notable and I'm hopeful that the switch to hurdling will see him in a better light.

The manner in which he travelled into contention on debut at Tipperary suggests that the drop back to 2m4f should be no problem for him either.

There is a worry that Irish pointers that go to Rose Dobbin sometimes take a while to show their true ability for her so it might be that Whelans Bridge will only show his best further down the line rather than today but this isn't a particularly strong novices' hurdle and any 8/1 or bigger appeals.