Dave Nevison's Tuesday tips: best bets at Taunton

Black Hawk Eagle seems to have a class ceiling and finds open, competitive handicaps a little too strong.

That certainly looked the case in a Premier Handicap at Ascot last time out where he trailed home well beaten. However, Kerry Lee’s seven-year-old is useful and consistent when contesting in slightly lower grades and won two handicaps last year, including a 0-130 contest.

He is running at an even lower level here and has been dropped a couple of pounds by the handicapper since his latest outing. 

Black Hawk Eagle has shown decent form already this season, too, and now that he returns to a grade he's capable of going close in, I anticipate a decent performance once again.

Alan King’s charge looks the improver in this staying handicap and now that he is stepped up to three miles, he looks very likely to reverse recent Exeter form with Stormy Flight, and can record his first win over fences. 

The Doyen Chief won a point-to-point before he was an expensive purchase to race under rules, and has been a very consistent performer. He improved from his first run this season with that effort at Exeter, but he was dropped down in trip there, and has looked all along to be a three-mile chaser in the making.

This looks a real opportunity for him.

This seven-year-old will almost certainly never live up to the promise he showed when winning his sole bumper start two years ago, but he has run two of his best races over hurdles at this track, and seemed to show that he might be back on the up last time with a good second over this trip. 

Diesel Line has now had two wind operations but on the evidence of the latest run, the second one has worked much better, and this divided handicap does not look a very competitive affair. 

His track experience will definitely help him here, too.