Northumberland Plate Tips & Betting Offers

The Northumberland Plate at Newcastle is one of the most popular staying handicaps of the racing year. Here we highlight some of the best odds and offers available and provide our betting tips for the race.

Run over a trip of 2m 56yards this Heritage Handicap contest was first run in Newcastle back in 1833 and now offers £150,000 in guaranteed prize.

Northumberland Plate Tips and Betting Offers, 3:35 at Newcastle, 29 June 2019

The Northumberland Plate is one of the richest 2 mile handicaps in flat racing. The winner of the 2019 renewal will bag the best part of £100,000 for connections so competition for a place in the race was very fierce. Each of the 20 competitors has a chance of landing the big prize but recent winners have tended to come from the upper echelons of the betting market and there is plenty of strength up there in this year’s renewal.

Look for a Mixture of Youth and Experience

The nature of the Northumberland Plate changed significantly in 2016 when it was switched from turf to the all weather. Taking the going out of the equation takes one unpredictable attribute away from the race and all the trainers involved know what just what sort of challenges will face their horses on Saturday.

At 2 mile and half a furlong, this is a stamina sapping contest. Horses without previous winning form over 1 mile 4 furlongs always find the Northumberland Plate difficult as do those who don’t arrive in Newcastle without some good recent form. Whilst experience is important, older horses don’t have a great record with few recent winners aged over six.

Withhold at the Double?

Roger Charlton knows better than most what it takes to prepare a horse for the Northumberland Plate. He got Withhold in the perfect shape to win last year’s race despite a break of 259 days before heading to Newcastle and Charlton is confident of his six-year-old repeating the trick 12 months on.

Withhold’s performance last year was enough to convince connections to try him out in the Melbourne Cup. Unfortunately, he suffered a broken blood vessel in one of his warm up s for that huge contest and had to come back home. With those problems behind him and some apparently very good form at home, Withhold rates a very big danger.

Dubawi Fifty Starting to Peak

The big question about Withhold is whether his best days are behind him. There are no such questions about Dubawi Fifty who looked to have a great potential to improve from an already high base when he was last seen finishing second in the 2018 Ascot Stakes over 2 miles 4 furlongs.

Karen McLintock has been very careful with her six-year-old, making sure to reintroduce him back at the right time following a setback. He will be seen for the first time in over a year on Saturday and the length of that break is the main reason he can be backed at 14/1 with Coral. He’d be a fair bit shorter for just one warm up race and his quality and fair mark suggests he is very well priced.

Betting Predictions

Withhold will once again have to get the better of some high class opponents if he is to win the Northumberland Plate. With the expert eye of Roger Charlton ensuring that he returns to Newcastle in tip top shape despite the long break, Withhold could well do the double at 10/1 with bet365.

Having a couple of options for this competitive handicap is always a good idea and it’s Dubawi Fifty who looks the best each way betting option in the field at a generous 14/1 with Coral.

Northumberland Plate Previous Winners

  • 2018 – Withhold – jockey Robert Winston, trainer Roger Charlton
  • 2017 – Higher Power – jockey Tom Queally, trainer James Fanshawe
  • 2016 – Antiquarium – jockey James McDonald, trainer Charlie Appleby
  • 2015 – Quest For More – jockey George Baker, trainer Roger Charlton
  • 2014 –Angel Gabrial – jockey George Chaloner, trainer Richard Fahey
  • 2013 – Tominator – jockey Graham Lee, trainer Jonjo O’Neill
  • 2012 – Ile de Re – jockey Jim Crowley, trainer Donald McCain
  • 2011 – Tominator – jockey Paul Pickard, trainer Reg Hollinshead
  • 2010 – Overturn – jockey Eddie Ahern, trainer Donald McCain
  • 2009 – Som Tala – jockey Tony Culhane, trainer Mick Channon
  • 2008 – Arc Bleu – jockey Adrian Nicholls, trainer Tony Martin
  • 2007 – Juniper Girl – jockey Luke Morris, trainer Michael Bell
  • 2006 – Toldo – jockey Nelson de Souza, trainer George M. Moore

Northumberland Plate History

First run around Newcastle’s Town Moor as long ago as 1883, this race has been held at its present Gosforth Park venue since 1882. Initially held on a Wednesday, its nickname of the “Pitmen’s Derby” stems from the fact that the legions of local mine workers were regularly given the day off in order to watch the race. From relatively humble beginnings, the Northumberland Plate has now grown to be one of the richest two-mile handicap races in the world.

Most notable of the early winners here is the 1874 heroine Lily Agnes. The James Snarry owned filly was pretty smart at the track, adding wins in the Doncaster Cup and Ebor Handicap to her successes here, but really found her niche as a broodmare. The 1000 Guineas winner Farewell and Triple Crown winning superstar of the era, Ormonde counted amongst her progeny. Lily Agnes is now honoured in a conditions race run at Chester each year.

1883 winner Barcaldine is another to have made quite an impression at stud, having sired winners of the 1000 Guineas, Oaks, Derby, St Leger ad Ascot Gold Cup.

1996 winner Celeric is one of the classiest in the races history. The David Morley trained son of Mtoto added numerous staying prizes to his haul before being retired, including a Yorskhire Cup and a career highlight Ascot Gold Cup win in 1997.

The front running Overturn was a hugely popular winner of this race for Donald McCain in 2010. A talented dual purpose performer, Overturn recorded wins in the Chester Cup on the flat and the Scottish Champion Hurdle in a highly productive career. Then in 2011, when landing the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at this track, he became the first horse ever to win both Newcastle’s major flat and jumps contests.

Tominator famously recorded his second win in this race in 2013, and whilst a handful of others have won twice, only one runner has landed a trio of successes. That came back in the 1800’s when Underhand won three on the spin between 1857 and 1859.

As one might expect of one of the most fiercely contested handicap contests of the year, there are no tales of dominance amongst the ranks of trainers and jockeys in the modern era. Paul Cole leads the way amongst the trainers with his three wins recorded between 1997 and 2001. No jockey has yet managed a hat-trick, with Willie Carson and Kevin Darley being the only jockeys to win the race more than once.

For more big-race action, check out our Cheltenham offers and Royal Ascot tips