High-quality fields have assembled for All-Weather Championships Trials Day at Lingfield tomorrow, March 1, including four winners from Newcastle's AWC Trials Day hoping to qualify for a chance at a £75,000 bonus.
The winner of each £45,000 handicap will be eligible for free entry to the corresponding Finals Day race at Newcastle, as well as a £30,000 bonus should they go on to win on Good Friday.
One horse who will be hoping to book his ticket to Gosforth Park on Good Friday is the Mark Fahey-trained Old Peculiar, who arrives on the back of three consecutive victories at Dundalk, most recently taking a mile handicap by four and a half lengths in January.
The progressive five-year-old faces a career-high mark of 86 on his first start outside of Ireland but with a good draw in stall three and nice racing weight, his trainer Mark Fahey believes now is the perfect time to have a crack at the valuable one-mile two-furlong prize.
The County Kildare-based trainer said: "This is a huge step up in grade for Old Peculiar, but his three wins at Dundalk have been pretty decisive and, if we are going to have a crack at a good pot, now is the time to do it with a lightweight on our back.
"Blinkers have been the key to him, without a doubt. He has always shown us a lot of promise, but he never delivered and was a bit frustrating early on. Since we have put the blinkers on, he is showing on the track what he shows at home.
"He shows a lot of speed in his work but has the stamina for a mile and a half on the track. I think he is pretty versatile. A mile and a quarter on a sharper track like Lingfield should be fine and we are hopeful that he can keep the good run going."
Another horse who will be looking to book his ticket for Newcastle's Easter feature weekend is Roger Teal's Rosario.
The lightly-raced three-year-old will have to defy top weight in the BetMGM AWC 3-Year-Old Trial Handicap over six furlongs if he is to succeed in his bid to make all-weather finals day in March.
An impressive winner on debut at Ffos Las, the Roger Teal-trained colt finished an eye-catching third behind subsequent Breeders' Cup winner Big Evs in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster.
He went on to fill the runner-up spot in the five-furlong Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes on Newmarket's Rowley Mile on his final start as a juvenile and the Lambourn-based handler is expecting plenty more from his charge now stepping up in trip.
"Rosario has wintered well, and I think the step up to six furlongs will help him," trainer Roger Teal told Sky Sports Racing.
"If you saw the Doncaster race against Big Evs, he messed around in the stalls and got left a long way, but he finished the race off nicely. It was the same at Newmarket, where he got unbalanced in the dip.
"He has never loved the stalls. We have been doing a lot of work with him at home, putting him in almost daily, but he does get fractious and does not like being in there too long. Hopefully, the homework will help on the day."
