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A Haydock Nap and Next Best from Timeform
Haydock Nap - 15:50 - Back Cuthbert Dibble
Cuthbert Dibble showed plenty of promise in novice hurdles last season, winning on a couple of occasions, and he proved better than ever when making a winning return at Chepstow a couple of weeks ago.
Cuthbert Dibble was strong in the market on his belated reappearance and his supporters wouldn't have had many anxious moments as the six-year-old was never far away and quickly had his rivals under pressure after leading on the approach to the third-last.
The way Cuthbert Dibble kept powering on in that two-and-a-half miler, ultimately passing the post 12 lengths clear, suggests that the step up in trip to three miles won't prove an issue, and this unexposed sort still looks fairly treated following an 8 lb rise in the weights.
Haydock Next Best - 13:37 - Back Zhiguli
Zhiguli was disappointing when pulled up on his penultimate start at Ascot and, while he ran better, was readily brushed aside in a two-runner event at Fontwell in December.
He's been cut some slack by the handicapper, however, and is now 2 lb below the mark he defied at Sandown 11 months ago. He returns from a two-month break with trainer Gary Moore among the winners, while the application of cheekpieces offers further hope that he might be able to bounce back.
Conditions will be testing at Haydock but that won't be an issue for Zhiguli who has done his winning with plenty of cut in the ground and also stays further than this intermediate trip.