Martin Dixon's Saturday selections: Stamina test to suit Inis

Emma Lavelle has her team of horses in good form - with three winners in the last week - and General Medrano has a big chance here judged on the pick of last season's efforts. He won easily first time out so that proven record when fresh is a positive and then also won with plenty in hand at Huntingdon next time before finishing an excellent second to the progressive Brave Kingdom (since followed up) at Plumpton. I think a good test at two miles is probably his optimum test and he returns from a mark that has slipped to 6lb lower than his peak rating. 

It's fair to say that the Twiston-Davies team had Josh The Boss fully tuned up for his Silver Trophy win at Chepstow last month but that shouldn't detract from what was a much improved and polished performance in an ultra deep handicap.

Already five of his rivals there have won on their next start, including the runner-up Doyen Quest who was impressive at Cheltenham last weekend, and there's every chance in my opinion that a 7lb rise in the weights underestimates that last performance. He's a strong stayer at the trip and handles testing ground, so any rain that falls at Haydock shouldn't be a problem. I'll be backing him each-way with a best-priced 13/2 (and plenty of 6/1) available at the time of writing. 

Inis Oirr showed when routing the field in the Edinburgh National in February that he has a big staying engine and I expect now stepping back up to a marathon trip with a couple of runs behind him this autumn he can return to his best. 

He ran well until hitting the second last at Carlisle last time and just left the impression the outing was still needed. After that he was dropped 2lb to a mark of 130 which I still think is very fair based on his Musselburgh rout. I'm not sure he'll face much competition for the lead in this contest which will hopefully help him get into a good rhythm and I rate him my best bet of the day with 6/1 available at the time of writing. 

Golden Ace deserves to be favourite for the Ascot Hurdle based on her flawless novice campaign but if there's a point of the season she's most vulnerable this is surely it on her first outing since April and with Jeremy Scott's yard not having saddled a winner since July. 

Lucky Place actually made her work harder than anything else she came up against last season when the pair met at Taunton in January, with Nicky Henderson's youngster making her work hard and going down by less than a length, and Lucky Place is now 10lb better off at the weights than he was for that previous meeting. He continued his own progress last season, catching the eye with how he travelled when finishing fourth in the Coral Cup when last seen, and a general price of 6/1 when writing (best price at 13/2) looks too big.