6.30pm Kelso Tips & Betting Preview 20/09/2017

A small but select field for this two mile hurdle with plenty of recent winning form on show in the field. Our expert tip and runner by runner preview are below.

IN SUMMARY: CAPTAIN BROWN is the wide outsider of the field but that is a surprise given how well he has run here in the past. Mirsaale is his biggest danger, placed in a Grade 2 last season as a novice, he returned with a smart win at Perth and will enjoy having the cheekpieces he wore last time being removed now. Prince Khurram was competitive from higher marks in the past, so he is probably better suited than Beeno after recent hat-tricks.

1 MIRSAALE – Showed smart form as a novice hurdler, twice a winner at Perth before splitting Moon Racer and Ballyandy in a Grade 2 at Cheltenham last November. He didn’t go on from there, but it was no surprise to see a mark of 132 prove well within his grasp back at Perth to kick off the current campaign. He flopped there since, but the cheekpieces he wore there are swiftly removed so it is excused. He stayed two miles on the flat so a trip away from the sharp Perth track shouldn’t be a concern, he looks a big player in this line-up.

2 BEENO – A great advertisement for the talents of his trainer Kenneth Slack. A hood fitted on this progressive horse has quickly made him up into a solid handicapper, clocking up a Cartmel hat-trick over the summer. His most recent win suggests that his new mark of 132 isn’t beyond him, although he would probably be suited by a little more rain to give him sufficient cut in the ground to help him now that he is further up the handicap.

3 CAPTAIN BROWN – As one would expect from a horse in the Jimmy Moffatt yard, the best of his form so far has all come at his local track at Cartmel. Boasts a win and three runner-up efforts in seven runs at this track on his CV, however, so he has no issues being back here with no strong ground dependency for him. The race wasn’t run to suit him last time so that is easily excused, with a ten pound claimer potentially his ideal partner as he can do his own thing in the early stages before picking them up when hitting the hill.

4 MASTER OF FINANCE – Campaigned typically heavily on the flat by Mark Johnston so, despite only the nine runs over obstacles, he lacks the scope for progress that a couple of the others do. Three time runner-up from a pound lower already in 2017, he is going to have to find a little more if he is to take home this contest, with blinkers tried once more having not run all that well in them in two starts over hurdles.

5 PRINCE KHURRAM – Like Beeno, he arrives having notched up a hat-trick of handicap wins at a lower level to this. He was competitive off of slightly higher perches than this in 2016 so the climb in the weights for his recent run of form may not be enough to stop another solid showing. He needs the ground to stay on the quick side for him to be seen to best effect, but probably needs a little more in this class of field in any case.