Horse racing tips: three picks for day one of the Craven Meeting

A good run looks very likely. 

Isle of Lismore has improved a little each season he has raced and won over the July Course last summer, his second victory on that circuit. Yet he probably ran his best race over this Rowley Mile course last May and from a mark just 1lb lower than his current rating. 

He reappeared recently at Lingfield and ran very much as though needing the run yet still finished a decent third, so hopefully he will come forward a little for that run. 

Most of the runners are going very well at present and jockey has also won on Isle of Lismore before.

John and Thady Gosden have a large stake in this impossible handicap, with the lightly-raced making his reappearance alongside two former Clarehaven inmates now making their debuts for new yards. 

The Johnstons also do very well at Newmarket as it is a track that favours horses who go from the front and looks very likely to get the lead here and, indeed, could be good enough to hold on. 

He ran a really good second over seven furlongs at the Guineas meeting at this track last year and after that he was tried over longer trips and on very soft ground, which didn’t suit him at all. 

He reappeared over Wolverhampton’s extended mile in the Lincoln trial and ran an excellent third, beaten less than a length. Charlie Johnston is in very good form and Benacre looks to have crept down to a winning mark here. 

I am wary of 3yo-only handicaps in these opening weeks of the season, but I couldn’t fail to be impressed with Brunel’s Nation and his win on the all-weather last time. 

The chains were clearly released for that run after four unplaced efforts and, heavily backed into 6-4 favourite, he justified expectations by three lengths and without too much concern for backers. 

He has been raised 9lb for that win, but that weight would certainly not have stopped him last time and, even though he is likely against other lightly-raced improvers, he must have a favourite's chance of following up.