13:40 Naas

The market heavily favours the debut effort of the Aidan O’Brien trained Little Big Bear in this maiden but I much prefer the chances the Alexis Zorba (best priced at 4/1) who chased home his rivals stablemate last month. The Joseph O’Brien trained son of Zoustar went off 6/4 favourite to beat Blackbeard at Dundalk but could only finish 1 ½ lengths behind him, however that rival has since followed up that success at the Curragh in a listed race.

Alexis Zorba and Blackbeard pulled 6 ½ lengths clear of the third at Dundalk so that looks a strong race and I don’t think there should be such a big price between himself and Little Big Bear who also finished 2nd on his debut. The two experienced colts look Group quality so I will be surprised if any of the debutants can trouble them on debut so Alexis Zorba is also worth backing in the w/o Little Big Bear market too in my opinion.

Alexis Zorba - 1pt e/w @ 4/1
Alexis Zorba w/o Little Big Bear - 1pt @ 6/5

15:00 Haydock

Anna Bunina (best priced at 6/1) and West Cork (best priced at 11/2) finished 1st and 2nd in the Scottish Champion Hurdle a month ago and both seem well treated still off 5lb and 4lb higher marks.

West Cork returned from 631 days off the track to win the Greatwood Hurdle on his reappearance this season and that form has received multiple boosts since. The Dan Skelton trained eight-year-old has run with credit on his three starts since including when only beaten 5 ¼ lengths by State Man in the County Hurdle and when he finished only a length behind Anna Bunina in the Scottish Champion Hurdle last time despite racing keenly in the early stages.

Connections of Anna Bunina have booked the extremely talented 5lb claimer Mark McDonagh to come over for the ride and that effectively means she runs off the same mark as her Scottish Champion Hurdle success last time. She has been running consistently well this season and despite this being a career high mark a handicap, the John McConnell trained mare should run well with up to six places available.

Anna Bunina - 0.5pts e/w @ 6/1
West Cork - 0.5pts e/w @ 11/2

16:05 Ascot

The Charlie Hills trained Dark Shift (best priced at 10/1) has form figures of 1411 at Ascot and this progressive four-year-old could make a mockery of his mark of his mark of 91 if he is ready to go on his reappearance. The grey son of Dark Angel won over this course and distance on his penultimate start before following up over a mile here in a classified stakes race in October.

The main negative for Dark Shift is the draw as he is in Stall 4 and this race tends to favour those drawn high but with up to eight places available I will take a chance that he is well handicapped enough to overcome that.

Dark Shift - 0.5pts e/w @ 10/1