Northumberland Plate Festival Day 3 Tips: 10/1 Spartan to land the feature

Saturday marks the final day of Newcastle's Northumberland Plate meeting, with an eight-race card running from 13:35-17:25 to enjoy.

My Northumberland Plate Festival Day 3 tips includes Spartan Army, who's bidding to give Alan King a third win in the feature race since 2019.

13:35 – Wiltshire @ 11/2

When WILTSHIRE won at Newbury in April, he was able to wait for a run well into the last two furlongs before streaking past the rest of the field to win by a head.

That was no ordinary handicap, either. The runner-up placed in a heritage handicap next time and a few others have improved since.

Wiltshire himself has not done much for the form. He was sent off 5-2 favourite back at Newbury next time but was never really going. That was on faster ground, though, and Wiltshire is probably best when it is softer, or on the all-weather.

He is 2-2 on synthetics, including a win over some classy all-weather sprinters at Chelmsford in September. He remains lightly raced for William Haggas and can resume progress back on a surface he suits so well.

14:04 – Spycatcher @ 9/2

The star attraction in the Chipchase Stakes is multiple Group 1 winner Kinross. However, he is just starting out for the season and is expected to need the run, meaning he can therefore be opposed and last year's runner up SPYCATCHER looks the best option.

Spycatcher has not looked back since this race last year, when he was in the lead a long way out and caught late by Tiber Flow. He won a Group 3 in France next time and placed on his four starts after that, including twice in Group 1s.

Last time in the Duke Of York Stakes, little went right for Spycatcher. He thrives on soft turf and the all-weather, and without that excusable blip on his profile he would probably be seen as the main danger to Kinross here.

If the favourite is as far off his peak as expected, Spycatcher could make for an excellent bet.

15:10 – Spartan Army e/w @ 10/1

In the Northumberland Plate, you generally want to be drawn on the outside. Since the race switched to the all-weather, only two of the eight winners and seven of the 32 placed horses came from a single-figure stall. Those horses make up about half the field, so that is a serious underperformance.

This year, SPARTAN ARMY will break from stall 18 of 20, so plenty wide enough to do some damage. He also has plenty going for him besides a good stall.

This horse was bought to be a hurdler for Alan King and while he had some success in that sphere, he has taken off since being brought back to the Flat and the all-weather in particular.

He racked up a quick-fire hat-trick in February and March before finishing third over course and distance on Good Friday.

This race will have been the aim since. Alan King has won two of the eight runnings since the race was moved to Tapeta, including with champion stayer Trueshan. Spartan Army can make it an impressive three Plates in six years for his trainer.

This is an Extra Place Race, so Betfred will be paying five places instead of four at 1/5 odds.

Find more Horse Racing Tips here at Betfred Insights