Dave Nevison's Saturday tips: 50-1 chance among four selections

Ben Pauling has some cracking novice chasers this season and it looks very possible The Jukebox Kid might be one of the best of them.

He reappeared in what looked a hot novices chase at Carlisle in early November, but in fact he was pretty much in control throughout and, after jumping very impressively up with the leaders, he went on with almost a circuit to go and won by an easy four lengths. 

He would definitely have still won that race with 9lb more on his back and I don’t feel top weight will stop him here and he can show himself to still be a very well-handicapped horse.

I expect the extra four furlongs to prove well within his range as he is related to some very strong stayers.

A 16-runner mares' novice handicap chase is a rare event and there won’t be many as competitive as this all season.

It was only a modest 0-105 handicap at Fontwell that Rialta Liath won on her chasing debut, but she did it very well winning by over six lengths, and the form is proving stronger than expected with two next time out winners already.

Rialta Leith won a point-to-point on her only run between the flags and is closely related to good chasers, so it is probably no surprise that she is already looking like she is much better over fences than she was as a hurdler.

Sean Bowen rides for the first time this afternoon and her trainer Warren Greatrex is enjoying a terrific run of form.

Joseph O’Brien’s ex-French five-year-old is running off a 5lb higher mark than when he was introduced to over these fences on his debut for the stable.

I feel he could be open to stacks of improvement on that first start as he made a real mess of the last fence when he was moving up to challenge after travelling well. It is certainly not impossible that Kim Roque might have made a successful stable debut there and would have gone up considerably more in the weights.

With that experience under his belt and in a race not as competitive as some renewals have been, he has a very solid chance.

Joker De Mai has moved from Harry Derham after pulling up on his latest start when sent off the odds-on favourite. Although Derham won a race with him, he never managed to get Joker De Mai to match his useful French form, but he is still only a six-year-old and it is entirely possible that his new trainer, who has his team in good form, might be able to do well with him.

Joker De Mai had fallen at The Chair on his penultimate start and may have been shaken by that experience, but with a new professional jockey taking over from David Maxwell and a fresh training regime, he could be poised to have a good season.

I feel that in a very trappy race, a small risk on a big outsider might be worth a go to get some Christmas expenses.