On Se Calme won a modest novice last time to break her duck and has got a mark below 100 for this handicap bow, and not many winners start off in this company so lowly rated.
Jockey Oscar Palmer has been on chances at double-figure prices recently but he looks to be on a solid favourite in this modest handicap for conditional riders and my bet is that this young man is a jockey to note this winter, especially when claiming 10lb as he is here. He has won a couple of races from a small number of rides on the Flat and, now with Alan King, he has been placed on his last three rides (from just seven) over both hurdles and fences.
Work will have had to be done with On Se Calme's jumping in the last month but, if her young jockey can navigate the course successfully, then she should follow up.
Lucinda Russell’s chaser is running in a 0-120 grade handicap for the first time since he won another veterans' chase at Haydock last spring and I am hopeful about his chances back in this grade.
The good thing about these types of races is that it is highly unlikely that there are going to be any real improvers in opposition and, while Stylish Moment was beaten when he unseated last time, he would still have run a decent race.
Writing on Monday morning, Imperial Bede is put in as the outsider of the field here in most forecasts I have seen but he had a disjointed season last term and as a result may be starting this season off a decent mark.
He was tried at Graded level last term when running okay in the Dovecote at Kempton but disappointed three months later in a valuable novice handicap on the final day of the season at Sandown.
Imperial Bede did win his novice over this course and distance though and the horse he beat comfortably there, Arqoob, won a handicap nicely earlier this month.
Runners from the Jonjo O'Neill stable have generally been going well this autumn.