Monday tips: Alex Scott marks your card

This looks a match according to the betting, despite a seven-runner field, and my selection is the David Pipe-trained Turenne, who has opened up as the second favourite at a shade of odds-against at the time of writing.

The son of Zarak has good form in France and his best run there came on his final start on soft ground where he finished fifth in Listed company. The runner-up in that race has since placed at Grade One level this autumn.

Turenne then joined the team at Pond House and made an encouraging debut over obstacles, finishing second at Catterick last month on ground much faster than ideal.

He is back on soft ground here up slightly in trip, both of which will suit, and he is comfortably clear of the favourite The Bellhop on official ratings and they race off level weights here.

I expect him to take step forward from his fine stbale debut under a penalty and go one better in this.

This horse won his only point-to-point over two and a half miles, but has largely been seen over shorter trips since, apart from one run over 2m6f on his hurdling debut in a hot race behind the likes of Skyjack Hijack and Zanndabad.

He then had three more runs over in and around two miles and ran with credit in tougher races than this, his best effort coming when fourth in the Scottish Supreme at Musselburgh in February.

Those runs were all for Brian Ellison and he ran well enough on his debut for Adam Nicol last time out, finishing fourth of six at Kelso when shaping as if he would come on plenty for the run, and not to mention the step up to a more suitable trip.

From the family of Mon Mome, his family is full of stamina-laden relatives and if he does stay this trip, which I think he will, then he has to hold every chance down in what looks a winnable race.

It would not normally be my MO to select a horse that struggles to get his head in front but Tony Carroll's eight-year-old has shaped much better than the bare result on several occasions and is dangerously well-handicapped.

He has finished in the first four in nine of his starts this year but is now 7lb lower than at the beginning of the campaign and he is 41lb below his peak rating.

He did little wrong last time at Newcastle, finding plenty for pressure, and he beat the horses around him on the far-side of the track in fourth. He has been dropped another 1lb for that effort and Marco Ghiani, who has been riding well on the all-weather recently, takes over for the first time.

Tony Carroll has another runner here who looks well-handicapped in Tortured Soul.

The booking of Rossa Ryan is an obvious positive and the horse's last win came at this very track off a 4lb higher mark. He has been placed in four of his nine starts since and the races in which he has disappointed have been stronger contests than this.

He drops into his first Class 6 handicap for some time and his record at this level on the all-weather is six wins from seven starts. The 10-3 on offer at the time of writing looks great value.

Zoulu Warrior is still lightly-raced an open to improvement and has been dropped 1lb by the handicapper after a slightly below-par display last time out where he blew the start.

Prior to that, he had twice finished second in a higher grade than this, including at this track, and it is another positive to see Saffie Osborne booked, whose only previous ride on Zoulu Warrior resulted in a win.

He looks well-drawn here and, if he can get away on terms, then he may just prove too strong for his rivals in a race that is not filled with obvious pace angles. Several of his rivals arrive here with plenty to prove.