Jake Price's Wednesday Horse Racing Tips

TALK TO THE MAN 1pt Win @ 7/4

We all know by now that Dan Skelton has been on fire with his Novice Chasers over the past couple of weeks, with Kabral Du Mathan, Sinnatra, Captain Teague and Royal Infantry all getting the job done. The latest of his exciting debutants to join from Paul Nicholls is TALK TO THE MAN, and he looks destined to make up into a smart Novice Chaser this season.

Since easily landing his point-to-point at Loughanmore in April 2024 there has always been a bit of hype surrounding him, and after running so well for fourth behind Kadastral/Talk The Talk/Klub Du Reve in the Goffs Hundred Grand Bumper at Newbury hopes were high that he would take high rank in the Novice Hurdle division last season. Unfortunately he needed time however, and he was only able to make his debut over timber at Taunton in February following a 318 day absence. He put in a very smart performance to beat Kings Champion (124) by any easy 5.5 lengths though, marking him down as a very nice prospect.

Former connections wasted no time in going back to the well and just 24 days later he went in again at Newbury under a penalty - where this time over 2m4½f he very easily beat useful Irish raider The Big Clubman (135) by 3.25 lengths, without ever having to come off the bridle. His rating of 130 was achieved simply on those two impressive performances then, as his last run at Aintree in April came in the Grade 1 Oddschecker Sefton Novices' Hurdle - but he didn't really seem ready for the step up into a race like that over three-miles for the first time, and Harry Cobden pulled him up after the fourth last where he had weakened quickly.

Owner Johnny de la Hey will be hoping that the stable switch from Paul Nicholls to Dan Skelton will allow this 6yo to return to the same sort of levels of his prior Novice Hurdle wins last season, and of course the idea is that he will be a much better proposition now going over fences. He has the necessary size and scope to improve drastically this year, and I wouldn't be worried about his fitness considering the yard form of late.

Although his official rating of 130 does not suggest that he is the best of these to graduate from Hurdles races, I think there is every reason to suggest that he is - and will be - much better than that mark this term. Scorpio Rising is rated 137 but I think is more of a Handicapper than a Graded performer, whilst Klimt Madrik comes out on top of these with a rating of 143, but I would worry about how ready he will be for his debut over fences considering Toby Lawes has only had one runner in the last 14 days.

JUST A GLANCE 1pt Win @ 5/2

Having been very unluckily balloted out of the Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle at Chepstow the other day, this Fontwell Handicap looks an ideal compensation point for JUST A GLANCE, who looks a well handicapped Mare for her trainer Ian Chanin this season.

This dual point-to-point winner only began her career over Hurdles in February at Hereford, where despite being sent off an unknown 11/1 shot, she kept on strongly all the way to the line to score by an ever-widening 2.25 lengths. She then went to Chepstow under a penalty a month later, and readily scored by 9 lengths despite carrying more weight than anything else in the field - so clearly she is a Mare who possesses a fair amount of talent.

The run which makes her look so well treated however was her season closer at Haydock in April, where she contested a Listed Mares’ Novices' Hurdle stepped up in distance to 2m5f. She travelled powerfully in a prominent position, and looked to be going better than anything heading down to the second last flight. She sadly got it wrong however and lost one of her back legs, which halted all momentum. She still recovered well to finish in third place, but you have to feel that if she didn't make the mistake then she would have finished a lot closer. The form is strong though, with the Dream Shadow (126) beating White Noise (137) - and our selection was only 2 lengths behind the Cheltenham Mares Novices’ Hurdle winner.

JUST A GLANCE now makes her Handicap debut off a mark of 120, and this 2m3f trip af Fontwell should provide an ideal starting point for her season. Clearly taking in the likes of Grand Conqueror will be a much more manageable task than the Silver Trophy would have been, and there isn't really anything in this 7 runner field that scares me. Hopefully considering she was prepared to race 10 days ago, fitness will not be too much of an issue.