BE TELLING - 3:25 Kempton,  Back at 2.8 or more

Be Telling has improved markedly since joining his current stable and would have won his last two starts but for a fall two out at Huntingdon when a long way clear of a fair field. Last time he dotted up at Fakenham by 30L defying market weakness and looking a lot better than his current handicap mark. Surprisingly to me, he was only raised 12lbs for that win and the handicapper has taken no further action despite the Fakenham runner-up winning his next three starts, himself rising 21lbs in the process. So we have an apparently well-handicapped horse, proven at the trip, a generally safe jumper, at home on good ground and as I reckon he has the potential to be a 130 horse, he has to be backed today from a mark of 110. He faces two other front runners in Poppy Maroon and Treasulier who both won last time, but I can’t see either having the pace to go with Be Telling.

SAPHIRE NIGHT - 4:45 Towcester,  Lay at 2.3 or less

Sapphire Night won a dire Uttoxeter seller on heavy ground on her racecourse debut for the McCain stable, was sold to current connections for 10,500 gns and is now a short priced favourite for a mares novice hurdle. That raises a number of questions in my mind – if she was any good, why did McCain start her off in a seller – why was he happy to let her go at the auction – can she reproduce that form over a longer trip on a totally different track and on much faster ground – and does her move to Tom George (5/70 with hurdlers over the winter) improve her prospects? Even in another weak race, I feel those question marks are sufficient to justify taking her on at such a short price