Kevin Blake's Big Race Verdict: Norwalk Havoc to appreciate the rain in Cambridgeshire Handicap

• Kevin Blake gives his Newmarket Cambridgeshire verdict

• 35 runners head to post over nine furlongs

• Norwalk Havoc gets the nod for an Irish raid

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35 runner Cambridgeshire offers six places on Betfair Sportsbook

The Cambridgeshire.

35 runners rated from 86 to 105 galloping up nine furlongs of the Rowley Mile course at Newmarket on handicap terms.

Does that sound appealing?

Not hard enough I hear you say? Grand job let's shake things up by throwing in a deluge of torrential rain to change the ground to soft.

Well, no one ever said it was going to be easy, so let's have a go.

Cambridgeshire Handicap Pace Map

Where to start with this puzzle only with a pace map to try and add some light to the gloom. Balmacara (1) has been a regular front runner in recent starts.

Crack Shot (18) ran well when switched to front-running tactics last time. Watcha Matey (12) usually races prominently and occasionally pushes the pace which he did when winning at Ripon last time. Norwalk Havoc (26) regularly races prominently and can help push the pace.

Waiting All Night (34) usually races prominently. Roi De France (25) has been racing prominently in much less competitive company than this, but might lack the experience to get as forward in this sort of race.

Only one runner in the field in Lion Of War (32) has first-time positive headgear on and seems an unlikely one to switch to very positive tactics.

In short, for a race of this nature, there isn't as much solid pace on paper as one would expect to see. When that surprising revelation comes into focus, it narrows my view of the race in favour of those that are likely to be in the most forward quarter of the field, as if the pace picture plays out as mapped it might well prove difficult to come from off the pace.

Norwalk Havoc can land testing Cambridgeshire

7 (26)

Norwalk Havoc

• J: Jim Crowley
• T: Mrs J. Harrington, Ireland
• F:

Of those that sit in well with the above pace picture, I found myself coming back to the Jessica Harrington-trained Norwalk Havoc again and again.

Harrington has enjoyed plenty of success in British handicaps in recent seasons with her targeting the likes of the Racing League, Shergar Cup and the Balmoral Handicap on British Champions Day with success and it feels significant that she has chosen to run Norwalk Havoc in this race.

The three-year-old has been progressing steadily this season. He started the campaign by winning a maiden at Leopardstown in April and backed that up with an impressive success in a winner's race at Gowran Park less than a fortnight later.

From there, he was sent into stakes company and ran to a similar level on three occasions without quite progressing as hoped. At that stage, he looked in danger of having levelled out, but better was to come when he was switched to handicap company at the Galway Festival.

Norwalk Havoc's owners the Niarchos family are a racing operation that is very much focused on finding the next Group horse and it isn't an overly common occurrence to see their silks being carried in handicaps. Thus, one can speculate that the Harrington team must have been particularly keen for Norwalk Havoc to run in the Galway Mile at the Galway Festival for him to be given the nod to run.

Armed with both first-time cheekpieces and a first-time tongue tie, Norwalk Havoc wasn't given the kindest of draws in stall 16 for one that likes to buck forward.

While he got reasonably handy, he was obliged to race a little wider than ideal to do so, but a bigger issue was that he didn't seem to be in love with the downhill section of the track approaching the run into the straight, as he came off the bridle as soon as he started descending and Shane Foley had to give him the full beans to hold his position into the dip.

Once back on the rise, Norwalk Havoc began to make steady, relentless and strong headway into the teeth of the race, challenging Mexicali Rose all the way down the straight only to give best to that one by a neck at the line.

Given that Mexicali Rose had a much more ground-saving and efficient spin through the race, Norwalk Havoc's effort was particularly notable for a relatively inexperienced three-year-old on what was his handicap debut.

That view hasn't diminished since with the winner having been a little unlucky not to follow up in a Listed race at Killarney and third home This Songisforyou having won the valuable Northfields Handicap at the Curragh at the Irish Champions Festival. The fourth home was Coeur D'Or and he did his bit for the form by finishing an even closer fourth in the Irish Cambridgeshire.

Norwalk Havoc was raised 3lb for that effort, but that appeals as being fair enough. What is most interesting about the decision his connections have made to run him in the Cambridgeshire is the race they left behind to do so. As mentioned previously, the Niarchos family are laser focused on stakes races to develop the pedigrees of their illustrious families. Norwalk Havoc was entered in a Listed race at Listowel on Tuesday that he almost certainly would have gone off favourite for, but his connections decided to wait for this valuable handicap instead. Take the hint.

The rain that has arrived will very much suit Norwalk Havoc and he appeals as being drawn in the right part of the track. Crucially, he also has the right running style as he is likely to be prominently placed in a race that is far from sure to be run at any more than an average pace. He makes plenty of appeal at his current price.

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