Timeform highlight the ratings banker, a big improver and a Flag of note at Ascot, Haydock and Lingfield on Saturday.
The Ratings Banker
Hillcrest - 15:50 Haydock
The imposing HILLCREST looks sure to excel over fences next season but he has made an excellent impression over hurdles this term, winning all three completed starts, including a listed event at Cheltenham on New Year's Day.
The form Hilcrest showed on that occasion, when beating the highly-regarded I Am Maximus by two lengths, earned him a Timeform rating that just about puts him among the top ten novice hurdlers seen so far this season. He was denied the chance to improve upon that rating at Cheltenham last month when he was badly hampered after the third flight and his rider was unseated, but the Prestige Novices' Hurdle looks like a good opportunity for him to get back to winning ways.
He carries a penalty but is at least 5 lb clear on Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings and his strength at the finish over shorter suggests he will stay this three-mile trip.
The Big Improver
Good Risk At All - 15:00 Ascot
GOOD RISK AT ALL was one of the best bumper performers in Britain and he has the potential to prove much better than this BHA handicap mark of 127. He certainly shaped like a really well-treated horse when narrowly denied on his handicap debut off a 3 lb lower mark at Warwick last month.
Good Risk At All had around five lengths to make up after losing momentum on the approach to the final flight, but he surged home after the last, really taking the eye with how powerfully he finished to get to within a neck of the winner.
That two-mile handicap took place on decent ground around Warwick's sharp track, so the emphasis was firmly on speed. That would not have suited Good Risk At All, so this three-furlong longer trip and stiffer course should bring about plenty of improvement.
The Timeform Flag
Henley Park - 14:35 Lingfield (Jockey Uplift, Top-Rated)
HENLEY PARK produced his best effort since joining Gary Moore when scoring over this course and distance last month, and he still looks well treated after going up only 2 lb in the weights.
That was a narrow victory - he scored by a short-head - but he deserves credit for picking his way through the field in a race run at a steady gallop.
He was partnered by apprentice Rhys Clutterbuck on that occasion but Ryan Moore takes over in the saddle on Saturday and he has a fantastic record around Lingfield - he operates at a strike rate around the 30% mark.
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