Saturday tips: Martin Dixon has a 10-1 nap at Kelso

It may appear that Doyen Du Bar ran below form at Market Rasen last time, beaten over 15 lengths into third. However, he ran much better than it appears at face value, tanking his way round and touching as low as 1.5 on in-running prices before blatantly not staying the longer distance.

He's quite rightly dropped back sharply in distance here, at a track where he's been successful before. At odds of 4-1 at the time of writing, I think he's a very solid bet under conditions that will be ideal.

Danny McMenamin takes over in the saddle too and, with a healthy 16% strike rate at Kelso in the last five years, I think this is another positive.

I tipped Gaelic Rover on this column earlier in the season when he was caught late on by the reopposing Le Beau Madrik at Newcastle.

Although we didn't collect that day, I felt he shaped extremely well in defeat and possibly just made his move a bit earlier than ideal before being worn down (matched at a low of 1.09 in running).

He's subsequently landed the odds in style back at Newcastle in a weaker race, again jumping and travelling really well, and I think there's still plenty of improvement in the locker.

Even on that Newcastle form, he's closely matched with Le Beau Madrik, yet there's a big discrepancy in price at the time of writing with the Skelton horse 7-2 joint-favourite and Gaelic Rover available at 10-1. I'll be having a good each-way bet at that price.

With five wins already from only eight completed career starts, Smart Decision has certainly made a bright start to his career and Tim Easterby's youngster hasn't done much wrong in defeat in competitive handicaps on his last two starts when kept around two miles.

There are some stout stayers in his family and I've got the impression of late that he's ready for this step up in distance.

There are also only eight runners, so the race has a nice each-way shape to it and, as a likeable and consistent horse, I'd certainly expect another good effort with Jamie Hamilton taking over from the now-retired William Easterby in the saddle. He's a top price of 15-2 at the time of writing.