Friday: Gioia Cieca Looking for Victory (5th February)

Not too much happening. 

5:45 Newcastle - 

Keith Dalgleish has a good relationship with owners Weldspec Glasgow Limited and Gioia Cieca has a good profile to taste success at Newcastle (5:45). 

This bay colt, a son of Kitten's Joy, out of an unraced mare, cost $55,000 at the yearling sales. 

This February foal ran well on debut at Newcastle over 1m when finishing a creditable sixth place back in December when a 25/1 shot, beaten five lengths by Oz Legend. He was backed from 66/1 (tchd 80/1), so there was some hope. 

He ran a fair race, giving the impression of improvement on his second start and this drop back to 7f is likely to see a horse primed for the day. 

Gioia Cieca travelled well on debut but was a touch unorganised in the closing two furlongs and dropped back. To be fair, they looked like they were trying pretty hard and I imagine connections thought they would have gone closer. It was a decent race and today's contest is a weaker. 

The statistics for this colt suggest it will go well. There has been money for this three-year-old who touched 3/1 on debut and I think he could well be 6/4 by the off. 

There isn't much meat on the bone so unless drifting out I would rather watch than bet.  

6:45 Newcastle - 

Interested to see how Seeking Perfection goes in this race.Once again, the stats suggest a big run although with such a small field there is chance the betting may be manipulated. We will see.