Racing Zanndabad is one to watch out for in the Northumberland Plate

TWO years ago, the Northumberland Plate runner-up was Golden Rules, trained at a small yard not so far from here, just over the bridge near Chepstow.

- By JIM BEAVIS

Deborah Faulkner used to train a few jumpers there but now her son Tom is concentrating on the flat and Golden Rules, a Gosden cast-off, is the stable star.

Despite only one race since and now aged eight, he’d be a popular underdog for this Saturday's race at Newcastle, but at 10/1 I think he is plenty short enough in the betting. The Irish challengers will be hard to repel. I'll be watching out for Tony Martin’s Zanndabad.

The two most interesting races of the weekend are, unfortunately, not on ITV. The Pretty Polly at The Curragh on Saturday sees the reappearance of a lightly-raced four-year-old Estrange, who was hugely impressive in a Haydock Group 3 last month. Against her is the Oaks runner-up Whirl, who went down by a neck at Epsom to the Ballydoyle first string Minnie Hauk. It’s a classic confrontation between form and potential. I prefer Whirl.