Horse racing tips: three for Kempton from Dave Nevison

This amateur-riders event looks a good opportunity to pick up the winning thread with the very capable Lewis Kent (riding for his father) taking off a valuable 5lb. 

Despite being drawn in stall 6, I imagine habitual pace-setter Drifts Away will have no problem getting into pole position with the slow starters and hold-up horses drawn inside of him. 

Drifts Away is lightly-raced but has managed two wins in low-level handicaps so far and ran very well when trying to land a quick hat-trick three runs back in mid-November, off just 1lb higher than his current mark 

He disappointed on his penultimate start and may well have gone over the top for a while, but he seemed to come back from a six-week break refreshed last time at Southwell where he was beaten just a neck into third. 

Midnight’s Dream begins this season as a maiden, but King Power have kept him going and I doubt it will be too long before he loses that tag.

For the first time since his racecourse debut a little over a year ago, Oisin Murphy is back on board and the Midnight's Dream is running back at Kempton, where he has put up his best performance to date. 

The likelihood of a strong pace suggests he might get a clearer run through than the last time he was here, so he looks a decent bet.

Despite a perhaps frustratingly high number of seconds, Roger Varian’s all-weather team have been going really well since the start of the year.

I am pinning my hopes on the predicted stronger pace coming to fruition and, if it does, I think Mr Nugget will win this. 

The 5lb-claiming apprentice on board last time did nothing wrong when beaten two lengths into fourth in a handicap run at a slow pace at Southwell. However, the booking of Hector Crouch now definitely takes the eye and with a stronger pace likely David Simcock’s four-year-old looks another with a good chance of breaking his maiden on this card. 

Mr Nugget also finished second on his penultimate start in another muddling affair under Hayley Turner, suggesting that his turn might be due.