Lingfield is the main British meeting on Saturday and Keith Melrose from the Racing Post supplies his best bets on the card.

Bethersden Boy @ 9/2

1.15 Lingfield

1pt win

Dazzerling @ 8/1

1.50 Lingfield

1pt win

Harrovian @ 11/4

3.33 Lingfield

1pt win

Buick to be on the mark again

There is a draw bias in favour of lower-numbered stalls over 5f at Lingfield, but it is a pace bias in disguise as the bent towards front-runners is much greater than to those drawn low.

For that reason, I am not too worried about Bethersden Boy being drawn in stall 10 of 10 for this 5f race. What is more important is that he is usually fast out of the stalls.

Admittedly, that is over further but the bend in this race comes up very quickly so it is a matter of reflexes as much as pure pace so Bethersden Boy has arguably shown all he needs to already.

Related Horse Racing News

Weekend Racing Preview: Exciting Algiers bids for Lingfield prize

Cheltenham update: Championship race contenders

Recently-crowned champion jockey William Buick knows what he needs to do on this bang-in-form three-year-old. Buick has ridden eight winners here in 2022, from just 40 rides.

If Bethersden Boy makes it to the first bend in the front rank, he can prove a cut above his rivals.

Dazzerling to star

The 1.50 is a pretty weak 6f handicap in which half of the field are running off truly basement marks.

Admirable Lad is likely favourite, as his combination of demonstrable recent form and handy draw entitles him to be. But the price differential with Dazzerling just looks too big.

Dazzerling worked back to form at the tail end of the summer and finally looked ready to take advantage at Kempton in October, when he was sent off prominent in the betting. However, he hung notably left that day and was duly well beaten.

There should be no such issues at left-handed Lingfield, and a short break since suggests his trainer, the shrewd Laura Morgan, has ironed out any remaining issues. If he can break well from stall 10 and lay up, he has much more chance of upsetting the favourite than current odds imply.

Harrovian to school his rivals

The closing 3.33 is a Listed race and the central plank of Saturday's ITV coverage. There are a few familiar faces from the diet of these good 1m2f races at Lingfield in winter as well as some relative newcomers.

Harrovian sits more with the second group. He is a fairly lightly-raced six-year-old, and he has just enough course form to assure backers that he will cope with conditions without suggesting he has no room left for improvement.

Harrovian's course form figures read 223, the last two both coming in a Listed race over this course and distance.

On the first occasion, he was second to Pyledriver who won the King George in July and then, on his latest run, he finished clear of the rest albeit three lengths off Algiers, who reopposes.

That day Harrovian was neither as well ridden as Algiers, while the latter also had race fitness on his side. Harrovian can come on for that run, which was not far off a career-best anyway, and with Buick up he is clearly expected to be bang on form for this midwinter feature.