Monday tips: Graham Clark's best bets at Carlisle

Trainer James Owen is operating at a 21 per cent strike rate and Takteek can enhance that figure by making a winning stable debut. 

Although yet to run beyond 6f, his pedigree suggests he should be fine stepping up to a mile given his dam was a winner over an extended 1m 3f. 

Arguably his best run came with a bit of cut in the ground when finishing seventh at Catterick, so he shouldn’t have any problems with the rain that is due to hit the track. 

Interestingly, his new connections have decided to dispose of the cheekpieces he has worn for his past three starts, but given his previous runs in them they seemed to have had little effect. 

Takteek has been dropped 2lb by the handicapper since his last run to a mark of 63, while jockey Mason Paetel takes another 5lb off, which further strengthens his claims. 

Given the amount of rain that is expected to hit the Cumbrian track, this 1m3f handicap is likely to take some getting, but Brave Emerald should be well at home in such conditions. 

The switch to a softer surface appeared to bring out further improvement in the gelded son of Masar last time out, who showed his appetite for a stamina test when belatedly getting off the mark in a mile and a half handicap at Catterick. 

A five pound rise in the weights is not insurmountable for his last time out success and given he doesn’t do things in a hurry the combination of the stiff track on rain softened ground should see him double his tally of wins. 

Iain Jardine has two shots at securing glory here, but it is the seven-year-old Gemini Man that appeals most out of his two runners. 

The evergreen son of Zoffany has held his form well on the turf this year having finished second twice since scoring three starts ago back at Hamilton. 

Crucially the first of those two runner-up finishes at Ayr was secured on good to soft ground, while he has also performed with credit with soft in the going description over hurdles. 

He is yet to win off a mark as high as 48, however despite his advancing years he appears to be in the form of his life which offers hope that he could be up to defying such a rating.

In recent starts connections have opted to claim off him, but interestingly they have called on the services of Paul Mulrennan for the ride which is another plus.