Dave Nevison top tips: best bets for Musselburgh and Warwick

This is a good race of its type and Rickety Gate, just 2lb higher than whenlanding this prize last year, has a very good chance of a repeat victory.

The seven-year-old took a heavy fall at Doncaster in January when seeking a third successive win and was then off for four months.

He almost certainly needed his next two runs and showed the benefit of his comeback run last time out with a good second at Perth.

He is ridden by Conor Rabbitt, who was on board 12 months ago, and I have mentioned before that he is a young rider I rate highly. Rickety Gate will almost certainly have been primed for this and should go very well.

Is probably not living up to his “Hero” moniker as yet, but the addition of blinkers means he is worth chancing to get his head in front.

Heros de Moutiers certainly has a decent level of form and looks well enough handicapped to land a race such as this.

The six-year-old has plenty of experience of chasing and jumps well enough. Perhaps significantly, he has some good course form over hurdles, running well until his stamina has given out. It looks as though he will be well suited to this sharpest of 2m tracks.

There are four in this race who are running off significantly higher marks than last time. Latitude is among them, having been put up 9lb for his latest win.

Mel Rowley’s young chaser improved steadily with his four runs last season and won in the early part of this season, at Kempton in May, in the style of a horse who will be a force at this level.

He beat Duc De Beauchene by four lengths and that horse franked the form by winning next time out. Three miles is definitely his trip and he has run very well after a break in the past, so I expect his trainer to have him fit for what is in effect his seasonal reappearance.