Thursday horse racing tips: Dave Nevison marks your card

Fair Taxes seems to be overpriced in this handicap as he seems to have plenty going for him. The Irish raider is a habitual front runner and has obviously drawn prime position in stall one at Chester.

He ran a cracker at the track last September when finishing third, but that was from a very wide stall 12 draw which is quite an achievement. Ross O’Sullevan’s gelding made a decent reappearance at Dundalk when finishing fourth and probably had this race in mind as his spring target.

This race is only Fair Taxes’ tenth run of his career which makes him lightly raced for a sprint handicapper and it is not impossible he will improve this season. 

Billy Loughnane will be pleased he has a confirmed front runner drawn inside of him so he will hopefully be able to sit on the pace set by Liberty Coach and get a good run through this competitive 1m2f race.

A dual course winner, the George Boughey-trained four-year-old was at his best in the spring of last year and won on his first three starts. Hopefully he will come on from his comeback this year when he did far too much in front being too fresh and keen.

This race does seem to be set up favourably for him to return to form. 

Ocean Odyssey looks well up to defying a 5lb penalty judged by the way he won by a wide margin at Southwell last week. That six-length victory came in a basement level 0-52 grade handicap but this 0-60 is hardly the most competitive affair and he can handle the step up.

He was gambled on (not for the first time) when last seen and won’t be much of a price here, but has the look of a horse who is set to go on a roll.