H. Malone & Sons 100th Anniversary Nursery Handicap Stakes

17:15 Newcastle (AW) Fri 02 Oct 2026 7f14y Class 6 Good 10 runners

Mr Fox’s call

Perfect Hope

SPECULATIVE Advised 4/1 Est. 32%

🥈 2ND

Mr Fox says

Perfect Hope carries the highest SR in the field at 72, and at 9-8 sits just 1lb above the minimum, giving a clear weight-for-ability edge over rivals. The form string 698222 shows consistent improvement into placings at this class level, and DistFit:+ confirms proven competence at today's 7f trip — a critical advantage in a field where most runners carry DistFit:?. Son of A Fish (SR:69, DistFit:+) is the obvious danger at 11/4, but Perfect Hope's SR superiority and lighter weight are decisive. The blinkers (HG:b) are already worn, so no headgear gamble here — connections are working to a plan. Each-way alternative: Son of A Fish. Main danger: Son of A Fish — Son of A Fish has the second-highest SR (69), proven DistFit:+ at 7f, a recent run just 9 days ago maintaining sharpness, and Paul Mulrennan's strong 14% strike rate makes it a credible favourite at 11/4.

Verify· #21093

Full result

Winner: Waiting For Archie (GB) at SP 14/1. Mr Fox’s picks highlighted in gold.

1 Waiting For Archie Richard & Peter Fahey · Barry McHugh 10/1
2 Perfect Hope Fox #1 Tom Ward · Jason Hart 4/1
3 Sankhum Galaxy Ben Haslam · Andrew Mullen 18/1
4 Callisterra Fox #3 Michael Dods · Connor Beasley 11/2
5 Son of A Fish Fox #2 Richard Hannon · Paul Mulrennan 10/3
6 Onslaught Richard & Peter Fahey · Billy Garritty 9/2
7 Kaiulani Spirit Tim Easterby · Duran Fentiman 50/1
8 Soldier's Echo Hugo Palmer · Robert Havlin 18/1
9 Claret Time Fox #4 Nigel Tinkler · Alex Jary(3) 6/1
10 Aurora Valkyrie Katie Scott · Sam James 16/1

Top 4 — how each finished

1 Perfect Hope 4/1 🥈 2ND
2 Son of A Fish 11/4 5TH
3 Callisterra 11/2 🏁 4TH
4 Claret Time 5/1 9TH