"A Paw-some Day at the Races" is the tagline for Newcastle's card on Tuesday, with kids and canines encouraged to attend a dog-friendly raceday. Let's hope there isn't another near miss like we saw at Epsom earlier in the season... 

The race I'm most interested in is the Mini Golf At High Gosforth Park Novices' Handicap Chase (Go North Forgive 'N Forget Qualifier) at 13:26 – named after the top-class chaser whose wins included the Cheltenham Gold Cup – which features course specialist Luminaries. 

A Timeform 'Horse In Focus' following his win at Southwell earlier this month, the Ewan Whillans-trained nine-year-old has looked much more like his old self since the blinkers were refitted in combination with a return to flat(ish), left-handed tracks. 

He has three course wins to his name, as well as victories at Kelso and Southwell, and now returned to fences he should be hard to beat as long as the rain hasn't changed the current going description - Good (Good to Soft in places) - too much. 

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The Jodie Standing's Point-To-Point Recruits Novices' Hurdle (14:16) at Bangor has been won by some smart sorts in the past, notably the Olly Murphy pair Go Dante and Washington who won the two divisions in 2021, and Gwennie May Boy who won the 2022 renewal. 

None of that trio actually started life in points, but in a happy coincidence, there are plenty of graduates from between the flags in Tuesday's renewal, including likely favourite Rattlin Home, the clear pick of two Dan Skelton runners in the race. He beat subsequent Champion Bumper winner The Mourne Rambler at Portrush a year ago, and wasn't particularly well fancied when second on his own bumper debut in February; it's likely to be a different story here. 

Sitt Ona Fortune and Back To Sea were winners at Quakerstown and Ballingarry, respectively, when last seen, while Simonsberg's point form reads well but his opening run over hurdles – over nearly three miles at Chepstow- suggests he might be more of a long-term project. 

Legend d'Airy, on the other hand, has a different profile; he was well-fancied for two bumpers in the spring and represents a yard that can ready one first time out over hurdles, though his half-brother Issar Dairy didn't hit his straps until going handicapping. 

Over at Catterick, there are plenty of runners with the Timeform 'Horses For Courses' flag which may prove important on a day where testing ground could exaggerate winning distances. 

However, there's also a notable runner from the yard of Owen Burrows (2/4 at the track), who has the 'Hot Trainer' flag at the back end of a season where a high percentage of his horses have run to form; he's had 26 winners from 138 runners (19% strike-rate) and a Run-To-Form figure of 69.2% 

Sassicaia made a winning debut at Wolverhampton last December, and though winless since, his efforts in the summer suggested that he is building up to something better following a gelding operation. 

His dam Ballajeu won over 14f on soft ground at Salisbury, and also ran well over this trip on heavy going at Newbury, so there are plenty of reasons to think that this son of St Mark's Basilica will handle these very different conditions in the closing Jumps Season Starts 20th November Handicap (16:10). 

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