Martin Dixon's tips for Saturday: Take a swing at Batt

He won last year's Silver Cup from a mark of 87 and was successful again at Thirsk earlier this year off the same rating. He’s been quite highly tried in some tough handicaps during the summer, including when fifth in the Great St Wilfrid at Ripon on his latest start. But he drops back in grade here and, crucially, returns to a softer surface here. This is the first time he has raced on a testing surface since his win at Thirsk and he has edged back down the weights in interim. He also has the services of a good 3lb-claimer in the saddle. There’s plenty going for him – including a low draw, which proved advantageous here at the Sprint Cup meeting. 

If you’ve been reading my tips in The Inside Angle for a few weeks, you might remember when this horse was a winner for us in early August at Doncaster. He has continued to run well subsequently, including here, and he has a couple of course-and-distance wins to his name. Soft ground isn’t a problem and I still think he’s in really good form. I like the fact that he has the highest draw in stall 11 – in pretty soft ground that can often be the place to be if you can get hard on the rail. If the gaps come for him late on, I think he’ll take a bit of stopping. 

He’s another with proven form on very testing ground – he was second in a photo finish at Chester last season in the mud and hasn’t actually had those conditions this year. Despite that, he has continued to progress and he comes here on the back of a relatively light campaign having had just five runs, so he’s pretty fresh for the time of year compared to some of these rivals. He has a good record at this track too, including when a close second to Shagraan last time in a race that is already proving to be very solid form. Left on the same mark and with conditions on his side, I’m going to be backing him. 

This is a horse who was improved significantly since moving into handicaps on his last couple of starts. He won on very testing ground at Hamilton on his penultimate start when he gave the impression that stepping up to seven furlongs in the future would be a positive, given the way he rallied and just got up. Then when he won at Ayr last week on faster ground and still at six furlongs, it was firstly probably a little bit quick for him, but also he met trouble in running and I felt he finished with more to give. Sam Feilden takes 7lb off top-weight which could be helpful.