Tipping / Timeform / 04 February 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

Timeform Radio's Neil Munro identifies a quintet of horses to get behind or take on

The Snail - Wednesday last week saw Evan Williams inappropriately named seven-year-old get up the five timer when he won over an extended 3m trip at Musselburgh over hurdles. His previous two wins came over the bigger fences and the good form had started out with two wins over hurdles. This winning run has coincided with the horse being ridden more prominently, although don't think that he needs to be out at the front by himself as he is adaptable. With the handicapper looking to try and get The Snail under his control I think it could well pay to back him pre-race and lay out your stake in-running as the winning run has to come to an end soon. He has an entry at Catterick on Friday.

Distinctive Image - Seen on the first night of Meydan, he was 21 lengths 13th of 14 so you can rightly ask why I am putting this horse up as one to look out for. Well, this former Reg Hollinshead horse was having his first run for Gerard Butler but is one that has been on my radar for the last year or so. He needs a strong pace to come off of, having won under such conditions on the Polytrack at Great Leighs and Wolverhampton, and the Fibresand at Southwell. When I looked at the pace map of the race last Thursday I felt that there wasn't enough and thus didn't want to get involved. It may take a bit of work, but when you next see him entered, have a look to see if there is plenty of pace in the race. If that is the case I would split my stakes, backing half pre-race and the other half in-running at slightly bigger odds.

Nice One Eric - Emma Lavelle has another useful novice hurdler in the form of Nice One Eric. He has had two eye-catching performances, including last Friday when second to Master Of The Hall. Both times he has been positioned held up during his race and then travelled smoothly into contention before just finding one too good. The question at the moment is, has he unluckily bumped into two decent types or is he slightly one paced when it comes to the business end? Until I have got the answer to that question I would be looking to back pre-race and then lay out my stake in-running as he travels nicely.

Carruthers - Lord Oaksey's gelding is a horse I have a lot of time for as he seems as game as anything. On Saturday at Cheltenham he was set his hardest target so far, and although going down by six lengths to Taranis showed his character once again. Connections seemed happy to take a mid-division position in the race, whereas, virtually all his winning has come when dominating a field. He has a cracking record in small fields, over both hurdles and chasing, where he can control the race from the front. In field sizes of eight runners or less his record is five wins and two places from seven runs. If dropped down in class in a small field I would be looking to back him pre-race and, just as insurance, look to lay out my stake in-running.

The Great Husk - Still a maiden after nine career starts he showed plenty of toe over the extended 9f trip at Wolverhampton on Monday before getting caught close home. This has been the same scenario for the previous four runs. Just have a look at his in-running low trades against his Betfair Starting Price. BSP [3.75] >IR [1.60]; BSP [22.79] >IR [4.0]; BSP [5.50] >IR [1.90]; BSP [5.92] >IR [2.06]; BSP [80.0] >IR [2.02]. For the moment, I would back him for small stakes pre-race and then use that position to try and lay out at similar marks to those matched so that you have the field winning for you. He is entered at Wolverhampton over the extended mile on Friday.

Tags: Carruthers, Distinctive Image, Nice One Eric, The Great Husk, The Snail