TeddyT

The horses at the top of the market here don't scream value, so it might be worth taking a chance with the hard-to-predict Take Your Time. Four pulled-ups and three wins from his last eight runs. It seems he is either feast or famine. First time up could be the time to pick this horse, as he has won twice and placed another two times from five starts when coming off a long lay-off. He is a course-and-distance winner from a 3 lb higher mark and has won on heavy ground. He looks a bit of value and ticks a lot of boxes in a race with question marks against all of the runners.

Paradias won this race last year from just 1 lb lower, and he consistently returns high-calibre performances. After his win here at Kempton last year, he finished close up in three classy handicaps worth between £34k and £90k. His comeback on the all-weather last month was another solid effort, losing out by just 1/4 length. Back down to what looks calmer waters tonight, he seems to very much have a class advantage over tonight's opponents, and he looks a very solid bet.

Connections of the favourite didn't sound overly confident in the Racing Post today, and I'm not a fan of Argento Boy, who was a very fortunate winner last time and appeared to think about refusing at the last fence. That takes out the bulk of the market, and I'm going to go for Blaze The Way, who was a comprehensive winner of a Cheltenham handicap last time out in a race that is working out well. It's slightly surprising, then, to see him trading at such big odds, possibly because he faces very different underfoot conditions to the good to soft he won on at Cheltenham. It's heavy ground today, but he did win a bumper on heavy and has some decent form on soft, so you would be hopeful he would be OK.

The form of Act of Innocence looks overrated to me, and this looks like a straight fight between Taurus Bay and Heads Up. The selection was a surprise runner-up in last year's Cheltenham Bumper and underlined his liking for the course when finishing runner-up to No Drama This End, who looks to be a strong fancy for the Festival. Heads Up's form looks to stack up more than the very promising Taurus Bay, so I will just side with the Irish raider.

Final Orders was very impressive when winning over course and distance in December. He took to this unique course extremely well and is one of the few horses who has won at their first try on the Cheltenham Cross Country course. He's been raised nine pounds for that win and faces different ground today (soft/good to soft compared to good), which might be a negative. This is reflected in his price, which has drifted out from 4/1. I'm prepared to take a chance on the ground given how impressive he was here last month.

Zoran appears to have been found an excellent opportunity to get back into the winners' enclosure. Something of a course specialist with two wins and three other close placings from eight starts at the track. On his last appearance here he ran really well when beaten just over three lengths in a £41k C2 handicap. He drops down to C5 tonight and won over course and distance on the only other occasion he raced in this grade. He likes to attempt to make all and doesn't face any obvious challengers for the lead tonight, and Emma Lavelle has recalled Oisin Murphy to do the steering, who is one from one on the gelding. Zoran looks to hold a significant class edge over tonight's rivals.

Three last-time-out winners means this should be competitive, but preference is for COUNT ADHEMAR. The Donald McCain-trained gelding has shown precious little so far. Today he sees a switch to fences, a first try in a handicap, and a step up in trip. Market support also indicates that much better is expected today from a lowly mark of 95. The six-year-old is a half-brother to three winners who hit high ratings of 112, 144, and 146 and won fourteen races between them.

James Owen takes over the training of this mare, who has moved from a yard with just one winner since April. Owen is a master at rejuvenating horses, and this mare has previously won from a mark of 62. Off just 52 this evening, if the stable change works the oracle, she could see a major upturn in form.

Chris Wakelin made it into the Masters at the last minute thanks to another withdrawal from Ronnie O'Sullivan and will surely feel like he has an almost free shot at winning this event. He recently won his first real ranking event when taking the Scottish Open (he had previously won the Shoot-Out), and having that monkey off his back could make a real difference. In any case, he defeated Robertson the last time they played (10-8 in the World Championship), so he knows he has the game to mix it with the Australian.

BLOOD DESTINY had pretensions to be a really top-class chaser a couple of seasons ago, but Mullins has seemed to want to stretch him out to two-and-a-half miles, which, to me, has been a mistake. I think he wants a fast-run, competitive race at around two miles on decent ground. All of which should apply today. With what appears to be ideal conditions and Townend on board, he makes plenty of appeal in a really interesting race for a Wednesday afternoon.

Whilst making Blood Destiny the nap, I can't resist an each-way play on Midnight It Is, who was a staying-on third in this race last year. As well as that good run, he finished third in the Grand Annual at the Cheltenham Festival off just a pound lower mark. The form of the stable this season is a worry, but as a proven performer at this level his current price looks way too big.

Neither of these players have played since the Scottish Open, and both made early exits in Edinburgh, so both could be a bit rusty tonight. Higgins has lost in the first round here for the last three years, and Hawkins comes here on the back of a 4-0 defeat in Scotland. I think this will be cagey and messy, meaning that a high number of frames is likely. I'll go with Hawkins to win in a decider.

Wilson hasn't looked in top form recently, with off-the-table distractions appearing to cause a loss of form. Si Jiahui won a group in the Players Championship last week, so appears to be cueing OK. While Wilson has the advantage on the head-to-heads, his recent inconsistency makes him worth taking on today.

Zhao Xintong is so erratic at the moment I couldn't think of backing him at these odds. Apparently he is travelling backwards and forwards to China a lot, and the pressures of being World Champion could be taking their toll. His performance in the UK Championship when losing to Zhang Anda was awful, and he cannot be trusted at such a short price. He has been playing in the Championship League like his opponent tonight, Gary Wilson. Neither man played brilliantly, but with Wilson having a 4-1 advantage in the H2H (7 frames or more), he looks a bit of value at 11/5.