Wednesday tips: Dave Nevison's bets at Ludlow and Newbury

Authoceltic’s half-brother, Saint Segal, won a handicap at Kelso last week off a rating of 148, and is not the only useful chaser in his pedigree, so it is possibly no surprise that this five-year-old has shown much-improved form after being switched to fences for his past two outings. 

He was narrowly beaten in a small field on his chasing debut and then won in accomplished style at Wincanton last time out. 

He is still running off a rating of just 114, so there is plenty of upside potential if he is set to live up to his pedigree, and a well-run two miles, which is likely here, seems to suit him well.

The fact he also handled the fences at Wincanton suggests he shouldn’t have an issue with Ludlow’s slightly easier fences. 

Don’t Tell Su has a very good record when returning from a break, so I am not worried about him making his seasonal reappearance here, and his new trainer, Nicky Henderson, is doing well this season with horses previously trained by Paul Nicholls. 

This seven-year-old won a bumper and was consistent, if not massively progressive over hurdles. He made his chasing debut at Sandown in March, and got round okay, but it wasn’t an eye-catching performance, and Don’t Tell Su has moved stable since. 

Henderson has decided to unleash him at Newbury for his yard debut, which is a bold move. However, given Don’t Tell Su is related to some high-class staying chasers, it is very understandable. 

The selection wouldn’t have to improve much for the yard switch to be fancied to go well here. 

A combination of headgear and, perhaps mainly, switching to racing right-handed might provide an opportunity for Followcato to break his maiden. 

There is no doubt this six-year-old has been a little disappointing in his career so far, but he may well have needed time to strengthen up, and there has been the odd flash of promise in a couple of runs. 

Last time out, on what was effectively his first run over fences (he unseated at the second fence on his chasing debut), he jumped markedly to the right at many of the fences, and was still only beaten just over 13 lengths. 

He has been dropped a couple of pounds since, and Ben Pauling has applied cheekpieces for the first time, so it is possible Followcato could improve significantly on what he's shown so far.