Tomlin Memorial highlights Newcastle tonight

THE Bill and Glenn Tomlin Memorial highlights a well-balanced nine-race program tonight at Newcastle International Paceway.

Four qualifying heats of the series were run last Friday evening while a fifth heat was abandoned after heavy rain fell at the track.

One of the most impressive heat winners was the Adam Ruggari-trained Manho which, after being caught wide early, found the lead and held on strongly to score by just under two metres.

The gelding, owned by the Sloys Company, has much to live up to being by champion sire Art Major and out of the Group 1-winning mare Full Pleasure.

Full Pleasure has gone on to be one of the best producing broodmares of the modern era with 11 of her progeny winning races.

Manho is one of the youngest siblings, with his sister Kept For Pleasure and brothers Don Boston and Egodan each winning more than $300,000 in stakes.

Now a four-year-old, Manho has won four of his 33 race starts and will be partnered tonight by Guy Chapple, who also drove him in the heat.

In what is an open race, Manho has drawn nicely in gate four and should be able to take up a forward position from the get-go.

The Clayton Harmey-trained Abdicate and Ideal Sports Girl head the betting market for the final which on paper appears an open race.

Finding winners does not look to be too difficult tonight, particularly if you follow Clayton Harmey’s stable.

He has 11 runners engaged at the meeting, most of whom have strong form.

Harmey should open his account in the first race tonight with consistent colt Comet Crusader.

His only unplaced run this year was in a heat of the NSW Derby in February and while he has been well-beaten at his past two runs, he was not disgraced.

The second of Harmey’s more favoured runners is Chevrons Bypass, which won first-up in Australia after meeting with mediocre success in New Zealand.

She ran second in the same race as Manho last week, beaten 14 metres but gets back into a more suitable race.

Harmey’s last runner of the night could well be his best chance of winning, in the shape of Skyfall Benchmark.

He missed away badly last week and deserves to be given a chance to atone for that failure.