Free Daily Tips On attheraces.com Open NH Flat Race (GBB Race)

Off time: 16:56 | Winning time: 3m 56.1s

Imperial Merlin²⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 11-1| J: B S Hughes| T: J & S Quinn

30/100

Half-brother to useful hurdler/high-class chaser Secret Investor and made a pleasing start when second at Wetherby a month ago. Should be able to go one better with a similar standard of performance.

Form: 2

Och One More Gin¹⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 11-1| J: Alain Cawley| T: D Bourke

150/1

Out of a winning Irish pointer but no immediate sign of ability at Kelso 15 days ago. Hard to fancy.

Form: 0

Islebriand

Age: 4| Weight: 10-7| J: Peter Kavanagh⁽⁵⁾| T: D McCain Jnr

3/1

£5,000 3-y-o, On Est Bien gelding. Dam 11f-1¾m winner on Flat. Should have enough speed for this sort of test, so he's worthy of consideration.

Form:

Tommy's Fortune

Age: 4| Weight: 10-7| J: Sean Quinlan| T: T Collier

12/1

£6,000 3-y-o, Soldier of Fortune gelding. Dam unraced half-sister to useful hurdler/very smart chaser (stayed 33f) Junior. Likely to need time and distance.

Form:

Non-Runners

Can'tsmilewithoutu

Weight: 11-1| Age: 5

T: R Spencer J: James Bowen

Sea Village⁵¹

Weight: 10-7| Age: 4

T: O Signy J: Ben Jones

Forecasts

Imperial Merlin (30/100), Islebriand (3/1), Can'tsmilewithoutu (3/1), Sea Village (7/1), Tommy's Fortune (12/1), Och One More Gin (150/1)

IMPERIAL MERLIN is a nice prospect for jumping and he showed when second at Wetherby that he has enough ability to win an event like this before switching to obstacles. He's an obvious choice, although Can'tsmilewitoutu and Islebriand are both interesting newcomers on paper.