Horse racing tips: Monday picks from Ross Millar

It was good to see the Go North Series starting to get a little bit more attention this weekend. It’s been around for a few seasons now but has received very little recognition. 

If we are serious about trying to steer away from a sport where a few ‘super yards’ dominate, then series such as the Go North Finals weekend - which offers good prize money for lower-grade horses - must be supported and promoted to a wider audience.

I habitually find that racing at this time of the season can throw up some strange results. The drying ground means that horses are faced with vastly different underfoot conditions, while those that started their season in October might find the petrol gauge running low and consequently form dips.

A yard in improving form is the Fergal O’Brien stable, one that's had a stop-start season and endured what I’m sure was a frustrating Cheltenham Festival when a number of intended runners were taken out, while those that did run appeared to under-perform. 

Saturday will have been a far better day as O'Brien sent out an across-the-card four-timer, including the Paddy Brennan Racing Cub-owned Leloopa in the £100,000 Ladbrokes Herring Queen Series Mares Final at Kelso. This was a plan well-executed given Brennan had highlighted this as the target way back in November.

Just three head to post for this mares' handicap hurdle and, while Briefly probably has the fewest questions to answer having run consistently all season, I'm going to take her on.

The form of her latest effort when runner-up in February over course and distance looks solid given the winner Badbury Rings is now rated 15lb higher, but Briefly herself is now off a 6lb-higher rating here and that’s before you factor in that talented conditional Chad Bament was claiming his full 10lb last time.

I’m prepared to take the view that Larchmont Lass had not fully recovered from her penultimate start at Sandown Park when she wildly underperformed at Kempton Park last time. A twenty-day gap looked enough on the face of it, but Sandown is a punishing course in the depths of winter. 

A near three-month break now should mean that Larchmont Lass arrives here fresh and well and, while she looks like a mare that would appreciate slower conditions, her best piece of hurdling form came at this track on similar ground over three furlongs shorter.

This extra furlong and marginally more galloping track should benefit Mach Ten and, if the fitting of a first-time visor draws out more improvement, this 71-rated Flat performer could be nicely handicapped off just 94. 

Trained by Anthony Charlton, he was set a couple of tough assignments in a pair of juvenile hurdles earlier this season though in between he did shape promisingly in a maiden hurdle at Leicester. Sent handicapping off a two-month break, he disappointed on his first effort at this track where connections felt he was unsuited by the tacky ground and he duly delivered a much-improved performance on good ground at Taunton two weeks ago. He finished third there despite being one of the first off the bridle. 

Jockey Callum Pritchard suffered a winless run through late January and February but his confidence should be high now after three winners in the last 14 days, including Copper Jack at Chepstow last week for this yard.