Wincanton Saturday Preview

The first race of the day at Wincanton is the Class 3 Novices Hurdle and Fiddlerontheroof for trainer Colin Tizzard looks the one to beat off the back of his last performance at Chepstow.

The five year old won a good Irish bumper on his final start of last season and since then has moved to Tizzard's yard and made his debut at Chepstow in the Grade Two Persian War Novices Hurdle.

He was gambled on massively for that contest but could only finish a decent second just being outstayed by last season third in the Champion Bumper.

He has a quality form line and is one to follow if coming on for his recent run.

Another Class 3 but this time over the bigger obstacles and we have sided with the Neil Mulholland trained Master Burbridge in the 2 mile 4 furlongs event.

He has been off since June when he ran poorly at Fontwell and having previously gone well fresh he becomes very appealing in a weak field of runners.

His best performances have come on soft ground having the ideal conditions in this one and now four pounds lower than his last win should see him go well.

We come towards some of the best racing on the Wincanton card and the Class 2 Handicap Hurdle sees a classy field of entries and Danse Idol for Paul Nicholls catches the eye.

This six year old last season had form figures of 12221 winning over course and distance at this track on her hurdles debut and then went on to run well in some strong contests.

She had three seconds on the bounce in Class 1 events two of them coming in soft/heavy conditions and now back down in grade should see her make a big statement on her seasonal debut.

The Rising Stars Novices Chase over two and a half miles is one of the feature contests on this classy card with the Grade Two contest seeing a superb field of runners.

We like the look of the second favourite trainer by yet again Paul Nicholls and this smart mare was a very classy hurdler that impressed highly on her chase debut.

She headed to Worcester and beat a fair field of five with ease and even though this contest is much tougher she should come on a bunch for that experience and give another good account of herself.

The feature race of the day at Wincanton is the Grade Two Elite Hurdle and Nicky Henderson's Fussil Raffles will take all of the beating.

This four year old started his career in two point to point contests winning and placing in them before being bought by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede and sent to Nicky Henderson.

On his first start for the yard at Kempton in the Grade Two Adonis Juvenile Hurdle he bolted up seeing off a strong field of runners and looked a decent recruit.

He then went to the Punchestown festival in the four year old Grade One hurdle and kept his unbeaten record in tact to land the spoils.

He looks a serious athlete that is still very much unexposed and as said before, he will be getting his season up and running at Wincanton in the Grade Two Elite Hurdle on Saturday.

A race that has been a huge occasion for this track is the Badger Beers Silver Trophy Handicap Chase and in this Listed event we have two fancies.

The first is the favourite White Moon for trainer Colin Tizzard with this horse last time travelling like a dream over course and distance and looking sure to win before falling at the last.

If steadying himself over the fences he has a huge opportunity to win a decent Listed event.

The second runner at a slightly bigger price is the Paul Nicholls trained Give Me A Copper who is thought very highly of by his yard and if getting back to his early season form of last year could have a part to play.

The final runner of the day in the Class 5 bumper is the Tom George trained Writteninthesand and this five year old goes for a very infrom stable.

The gelding has ran twice in his short career finishing third on his point to point debut and then backing that up with a win on his final start.

This saw him bought by decent connections for €62,000 and he makes a lot of appeal if handling the tricky conditions on his British and stable debut.