Lingfield

3.05pm

Encore D’Or

He does have questions to answer. He ran poorly here when last seen back in February, when he was found to have an irregular heartbeat afterwards , most of his best form is over 5f and we have been landed with draw 10 of 11, too. But he has had a break and he won off a three-month absence at Newcastle previously, and he obviously loves it around here. Indeed, I rode him to finish third in this race two years ago, when we had to come from stall 11. So he can be effective over 6f, and he certainly has the class and talent to be taking a hand here if he gets the breaks. We all have Kachy to beat, especially if he breaks smartly out of stall eight.

3.40pm

Shining Armor

He is clearly up against it at these weights, and he has also been drawn 10 of 12, too. He will clearly need to step up on recent efforts, which included a modest run here, to give himself an outside chance but we know he is fit and he does have a squeak on the form of his 6f runs at Wolverhampton and Kempton last season.

4.45pm

Silver Quartz

He is another one who has a fairly big job on if you look at the official figures, and he will need to improve a good deal on his recent runs. But he didn’t do badly in the Lincoln last time and hopefully he will like his first attempt on this track and improve for the first-time cheekpieces. Archie has his horses in great nick, and hopefully some of that form can rub off on Silver Quartz, who did run well when third at Wolverhampton in February.