15:50 Saturday

Inch House is a short price favourite and, on his course and distance form, I can understand the case. However, he tends to hang under pressure and I’m not sure he’s as effective on softer ground.

So I’m happy to take him on with MAKIN’YOURMINDUP (5/1 – NAP). A grade 2 winning novice hurdler, he hasn’t progressed over fences as might’ve been hoped but there was promise in his chase debut and a bad run on extremely heavy ground at Leicester can be forgiven. 

Going left-handed is a big positive (all wins over hurdles came left handed) and Paul Nicholls tends to aim a good horse at this race; we won it in 2021 and 2022, and normally has a fancied runner towards the head of the betting. 

16:25 Saturday

A race that normally produces a smart horse, and in recent years it has eluded some of the larger trainers that you’d typically associate with these bumpers.

With that in mind, UNION AVENUE (7/1) looks very useful for James Moffat, who described him as “a serious horse” after his Aintree win. 

He beat Farland that day, who looked awkward in the closing stages but had finished fifth in the Goffs Defender Bumper behind dual Grade 1 runner-up, Predators Gold.

In stark comparison, Union Avenue was game and straight-forward which bodes well for races of this nature. There are a few in here with great potential, but I’ve been impressed with Union Avenue thus far and he will relish the soft ground.