Dave Nevison's Saturday tips: 20-1 chance among four best bets

William Hill Lincoln day at Doncaster will always be the first day of the Flat season for me, and it would be great to get a handicap Yankee up on the traditional curtain-raiser on Saturday afternoon! I'm hoping these four will at least go close, anyway. Best of luck.

Susan Corbett has done really well with Clear Angel whose improvement can be tracked over two seasons since he left Andre Fabre’s stable in France. 

Now a six-year-old, he finished sixth in this race last season, and although he is significantly worse off with the winner (who declined markedly afterwards and is now a very short price to bounce back) and is not favourably treated with the second and third, neither of those runners improved in the way Clear Angel did through last season. 

He hasn’t won on heavy ground but has produced some of his best performances with plenty of give underfoot, and a draw in stall 7 means he has fared better than last year’s rivals.

The booking of Daniel Muscutt really takes the eye here, too, and the selection only needs to run up to last year’s level to go pretty close again. I think he has been overlooked a little to sneak a place, at least, at 20-1, especially with his trainer in decent form in March having had four winners and plenty of places already.

Fozzy Stack must be extremely confident in Chazzesmee’s well being after his excellent success in last Monday’s Irish version of the Lincoln. The six-year-old looks to me like the proverbial Group horse in a handicap, especially with the impressive manner of his victory last time after looking like he was stuck in a bad position two furlongs out.

He was backed into 3-1 favourite for what is always an extremely competitive handicap, and won the race like a short-priced favourite should (two of his most recent handicap successes came when he was well backed at short prices, too). 

This double looks very much as though it has been a plan hatched over the winter, and looks very possible to succeed given heavy going is ideal for him. 

Aiming for big prize money at this time of the year looks a very good idea, and a 5lb penalty is unlikely to stop this six-year-old if he can handle the five-day turnaround.

Joe Leavy is an apprentice who has been going well since the start of the year and has been getting plenty of rides in the South for lots of different trainers. 

It looks to be a very positive sign that top Northern trainer, David O’Meara, who has his string bang in form currently, has booked him to ride Bustaam who looks to be the most interesting horse in this competitive handicap. 

Bustaam had just one run for Andre Fabre before being let go and joining David O’Meara last season. He has only run five times for the stable - including twice on turf - and his best run came on soft ground at Carlisle on his first outing (which also came after a long break, which could be another upside). 

He's possibly the only runner in the field with potential upside, and I will be watching for a market indication here.

The David O’Meara and Joe Leavy double could well be on in the second division of this apprentice handicap with another runner who began his racing career in France. 

Val Bassett will hopefully do better this season and looked as though he was taking a little while to adjust to his new surroundings last season. He disappointed early on, but there were clear signs in late summer that he was about to come good (which included a promising run on heavy ground at Thirsk on his penultimate start). 

All the while he was getting dropped in the handicap and he now finds himself 18lb below his highest French mark. Given the form of his trainer, it may well be worth chancing that he can take advantage of his favourable mark on his first run this season.