Bets of the Day: Yala Enki can run a big race on his first start for Paul Nicholls

Yala Enki looks too big at 25/1 with six places

15:00 Newbury - Yala Enki

This race at Newbury sees a clash of second season novices and seasoned chasers. A large portion of the time the winner tends to come from those second season chasers who have that 10lb improvement in their current mark. But this season's renewal really lacks the depth of quality in the second season chaser ranks and as such it could be worth siding with an established seasoned chaser.

I have a fancy for the nine-year-old Yala Enki on his first run for Paul Nicholls, he is certainly experienced but he's also a proven winner at this kind of level, goes very well in the ground and importantly is a proven stayer. Also, if you look at this race through the prism of last season's Welsh National and Elegant Escape he's potentially well handicapped and more importantly well-in with that rival who is currently trading at shorter than half the price of Yala Enki. Bryony Frost is booked to ride (who should suit Yala Enki's running style perfectly), and I just think with six places and the 25-1 available on the Sportsbook he offers good each way value.

Jonniesofa is well thought of at home

15:20 Newcastle - Jonniesofa

Mrs Rose Dobbin runs Jonniesofa her lightly raced nine-year-old in the Betfair Rehersal Chase today and is currently available at 5-1 to win this. I think that price offers a bit of value as I had him quite a bit shorter than that when I made my tissue for the race. He's got winning course form (1 win and 1 place from 2 runs at Newcastle) and has won on heavy too (3 wins from 4 runs) but more importantly, his trainer thinks very, very highly of him with a mention of the Grand National being on the agenda.

Ideally, you'd think the plan would be to win here and then put him away until Aintree, and with that in mind the stable must be very confident of a huge run. I am sure he will go off a shorter price than he is currently trading at and for that reason I would take the 9/2 as soon as possible.

He returned from a 672 day break to win by 16 lengths at Ayr last time out and his last win was after a 587 day break so he certainly goes well after a rest. The only worry is that this race may well come as a bit of a shock to his system as he run just four weeks ago. However, assuming he doesn't have a negative reaction to that (he has won twice before with just 20 days off the track) he looks a good bet at the prices.