Thursday Racing Tips from Steve Ryder

Zafaan is respected following his recent success at Doncaster but I am willing to take a chance on Dark Gold (best priced at 7/2) on his handicap debut for Sir Mark Prescott. The three-year-old has finished well beaten in his four starts to date when sent off 50/1, 150/1, 150/1 and 250/1 but he now returns from 160 days off the track to make his handicap debut.

The handicapper has given Dark Gold an opening mark of 61 which could seriously underestimate him and hopefully he can show an improved performance following a wind operation earlier this year. He had to be withdrawn on Saturday when he got upset in the stalls but hopefully he can get back on track here.

The Joe Parr stable have been in good form recently and hopefully Roman Dynasty (best priced at 9/4) can win this race under a 5lb penalty. The five-year-old has shown improved performances in cheekpieces on his previous two starts where he finished 2nd at Haydock off a mark of 65 before winning by five lengths at Nottingham a week ago off a mark of 66.

The handicapper has raised Roman Dynasty 9lbs for that easy success but he instead runs here under a 5lb penalty meaning that he is 4lbs “well in” at the weights. Benoit De La Sayette takes over on board and I expect him to prove hard to beat in this race.

Significantly (best priced at 2/1) ran well on his reappearance in May at Ayr on his stable debut for Julie Camacho and he should be able to get back to winning ways down in class. The five-year-old had gradually dropped down the ratings from 105 to 88 when joining Julie Camacho from Karl Burke but he was only beaten a length when 4th at Ayr on his stable debut.

The handicapper has dropped Significantly 1lb for that effort down to a career low mark of 87 meaning that he can now drop down in class to this Class 4 0-85 handicap rather than the Class 2 handicap he contested last time. Connections fit him with first time cheekpieces for this race and he should prove hard to beat under Graham Lee.