Newcastle Tips: Doc Sportello

Doc Sportello was one of the stories of the all-weather last winter. He won a claimer at 66/1 and Michael Herrington was the lucky recipient of a new horse, who less than a month later won a class 2 handicap at Newcastle and earned a Racing Post Rating of 107.

Since then not a lot has gone right for Doc Sportello. He made it to the All-Weather Sprint Championships at Lingfield but hasn’t troubled the judges since winning last January. Part of that was down to an excessive mark and his rating of 87 here is workable again. Two starts ago he showed signs of life at Wolverhampton, only beaten 3.75 lengths, he was the fourth fastest closer of the race.

He is a big price for a horse with a course record of 1210.