Steve Ryder is back with three tips for today's action.
11:40 Cheltenham
The Milton Harris trained SCRIPTWRITER (best priced at 11/4) has been compared favourably to his stablemate Knight Salute who won his first five starts over hurdles before winning the Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle at the Aintree festival. Scriptwriter was rated 102 on the flat for Aidan O’Brien before he made a winning stable/hurdling debut at Sedgefield in October. He followed up that success in the Grade 2 Juvenile Hurdle here in November on the old course beating Perseus Way by 2 ¼ lengths.
Scriptwriter was seen most recently winning on the AW at Wolverhampton in December off a mark of 102 which further enhances his claims here showing what a talented horse he is in both codes. He needs to prove that the new course at Cheltenham suits him just as well as the old course but I much prefer his chances with the proven form at the track over his main market rivals Comfort Zone and Jupiter Du Gite.
12:33 Lingfield
This doesn’t look the strongest 0-65 handicap and I expect recent course and distance winner LORDSBRIDGE GIRL (best priced at 3/1) to follow up in this race. The William Knight trained four-year-old finished 2nd by a head at Kempton on her handicap debut in November before running below par at Southwell on her next start.
Lordsbridge Girl put in a career best performance last time to win at Kempton by ½ length when ridden by Jamie Spencer for the first time and it is a huge positive that he retains the ride. The form of that victory has been boosted by the runner-up Asdaa following up on his next start and Lordsbridge Girl should prove hard to beat off only a 3lb higher mark.
13:01 Fairyhouse
Robert Tyner is a master at getting horses allocated a good mark on their handicap debuts and I feel that is going to be the case with the well-named BETTER TIMES AHEAD (best priced at 13/2). The JP McManus trained six-year-old was well backed when winning a handicap at Naas in March (sent off 2/1 in a 25 runner handicap) off a mark of 98 and he has since had three eyecatching runs over fences.
Better Times Ahead has been beaten 29 lengths (150/1 SP), 76 lengths (100/1 SP) and 91 lengths (80/1 SP) by Hollow Games, Fil Dor and Appreciate It but he has since had a little break and now runs in a handicap chase for the first time off a mark of 108. I expect to see a drastically improved performance from him under Simon Torrens off a nice racing weight of 10-11.
