Horse racing tips: Saturday picks from Dave Nevison

Former trainer Sir Michael Stoute raced More Thunder over trips beyond a mile last season despite this one being bred to be a sprinter and it looks to be a smart move from new trainer William Haggas to drop the four-year-old down to sprinting. More Thunder came late to score pretty comfortably at the Craven Meeting on his return and stable debut last time and he looks a sprint handicapper with a good season ahead of him. A 5lb penalty definitely won’t be what stops him winning this Heritage Handicap and, if he gets the breaks and normal luck in running, the likely very strong pace should help him pounce late once more.

This is a really interesting Heritage Handicap but it will be surprising if one of three very promising horses doesn’t win it. There is not a trainer in the country who has his team in stronger form than Harry Charlton and that leads me to believe that Hand Of God will be fit and well for this first race since Royal Ascot last season. Hand Of God won on his first start last season and went on to win at Ascot in great style, looking a Group contender of the future. He won his maiden at the Rowley Mile with Ryan Moore on board - another positive - and he has at least as much going for him here as both the Haggas and Appleby runners Approval and Arabian Light, who are the other interesting contenders.

This is one of my favourite handicaps of the season and I feel this year’s Thirsk Hunt Cup may well stay in the North with Karl Burke’s Flight Path, who is dropping into a handicap for the first time and I feel he will appreciate the drop in grade. Flight Plan won at Group Two level as a three-year-old but was highly tried throughout last season and struggled for the most part, though he definitely showed that he retained plenty of ability on occasions. He reappeared in a small field conditions race at this track (possibly a sighter for this event) and ran okay but definitely needed the run and he should strip much fitter this time. Flight Plan is back up to a mile, has a decent draw in stall 9 and has plenty going for him in a competitive event. He is definitely backable at a double-figure price. 

He could be a horse that Daniel and Claire Kubler could do well with this summer.

After Crack Shot won this race last season things generally went pretty poorly for him and he proved a disappointment, though if using a favourable lens it is possible to make excuses for several of those runs. Bought to join the Kublers for £80,000, he was a well-backed favourite and very short at 11/8 for his stable debut at Kempton recently but just looked to need the run close home. Crack Shot is off the same mark as his winning rating for this last year and, with William Buick booked, he looks set to make a very bold repeat bid.