Dave Nevison's Saturday tips: Cheltenham bets and more

I was gutted when I saw Inox Allen had bolted up at Perth in April after I had backed him on his two unplaced hurdle runs prior to that.

I do think he is a seven-year-old to be with for the time being, though, and the return to fences, with a visor applied along his customary tongue strap, clearly made all the difference to the Lucinda Russell & Michael Scudamore-trained gelding last time out. 

Inox Allen seemed to enjoy making the running at Perth and, looking at this field, it seems likely he will be able to get the lead, which should be an advantage.

I suspect his handlers believe he is a potential contender for one of the Cheltenham Festival handicaps this season, and this will provide valuable experience for him, but I would be equally surprised if this was a seasonal warm-up. 

This is a competitive handicap, and finding a reason for one of the contenders being nicely treated was tricky. 

However, my eye is drawn to the wind op notification on Rock My Way’s profile, and I am hoping that has been a success, plus it might enable the Joe Tizzard-trained seven-year-old to improve enough on his form to win this.

He is certainly a contender, even if he does not improve further, and is probably better than his past two outings suggest, even though they were creditable efforts over marathon trips, and the extended distance seemed to catch Rock My Way out. 

He has only once disappointed, and that was when making his seasonal return in 2023, but he performed well on his return last year. 

I also believe this extended three miles might be his ideal trip. 

Willie Mullins sends only one runner over for this meeting, and I have no doubt Chart Topper will go well in this, as will Gordon Elliott’s contender, Winning Smut. 

An Irish victory looks likely, but I am chancing Moon D’Orange to go well (at the 22-1 on offer) from a slightly less well-known yard.  John McConnell’s runners always need to be respected when sent over here, and the case for this runner is based on him reverting to hurdles on a much lower mark than he has reached over fences. 

He has had two runs over hurdles in Ireland this term, and they appeared to be warm-up efforts for this (and the Pertemps Final in March), and I expect an improved performance now. 

He finished third here in a Grade Two as a novice hurdler and, on that evidence, he appears nicely treated, especially with his rider able to claim his 3lb allowance. 

Heart Above performs well at Kelso and finally managed a win here last time out after a run of placed efforts at the track. 

He is only 6lb higher now but looked an improved performer after a two-month break there, and with Charlie Maggs claiming a useful 5lb, that negates the bulk of the rise. 

Maggs has ridden him to finish second before, and his services could be a bonus given that Heart Above has never run off a mark this high.