12:30 Musselburgh

Individualiste has to be feared here representing Paul Nicholls but I prefer to side with the proven form we’ve seen on the track over hurdles and that makes COLLINGHAM a strong play for Donald McCain. This horse won multiple times on the Flat before making an impressive start over hurdles winning over C&D in November. He then bumped into Skycutter when the pair came clear over track and trip last month and given that horse showed up well for a long way in Grade 1 company at Chepstow it looks solid form. He sets the standard and should also have more to come so I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t win this. There could be a fair bit of pace on early and I just expect him to track that through before picking them off in the closing stages. Meritorious also has to be respected but connections have already reached for cheekpieces.

13:55 Fakenham

I didn’t like the way Jony Max jumped before looking one paced over further here last month so I’m keen to oppose despite the drop back in trip. ANIMAL shaped with plenty of promise on chase debut when second at Lingfield and probably improved to finish fourth in a good race at the same venue last time. I know the 3 in front of him have all been beaten since but they have all shown promise again for whatever reason and I do think it will work out in time. He will need to brush up his jumping to win this but I think he’s improving and this represents a good chance for him to make the breakthrough over fences. Mailboo could go well tackling this sphere for the first time so also has to enter calculations and Bolt N Brown isn’t entirely ruled out despite having a habit to race lazily at times.