Horse racing tips for Friday: Dave Nevison's best bets

Smoking Pigeon does most of his racing at Huntingdon, so should be perfectly suited to this track, which isn’t too dissimilar to that venue.

I made the case for this nine-year-old when he won at a surprisingly generous 4-1 last time out, but I think the argument is that for a horse of his age, he is very lightly raced, so could have more to offer.

Being by Midnight Legend, he should adapt well to chasing and that certainly looked to be the case when he won by five lengths when last seen.

If anything, he appeared to run a little green after the last and has only gone up 6lb for that success, so another good run looks assured here.

Liam Harrison rides him for the first time over fences but has done well on him over hurdles plus his 3lb allowance is useful to have.

This seven-year-old created a really good impression on his chasing debut at Doncaster and simply must have more upside over fences than some of these exposed handicappers.

He looks as though he will be ideally suited to marathon trips such as this as he really had to battle hard to win by a short-head last time out but jumped like an old hand for the most part. All ground seems to come alike to him, too.

He is certainly bred to be a useful stayer as his dam won over a trip slightly longer than this plus No No Tango is related to Sizing Europe.

It was no surprise that he upped his game when tried over 2m3f last time out and it is very likely he will improve again over a bit further here.

The selection should possibly have won last ime out but finished well after getting going too late and looks a winner waiting to happen in these low-grade, novice handicaps.

He has gone up 5lb for getting beat, but that does not stop me thinking he has the appearance of a ‘good thing’ here and he looks a solid bet for a stable that have been going well all winter.