Timeform UK SmartPlays: Sunday March 30

We kick off in the opening race at Musselburgh, with the Tim Easterby-trained Cheers For Thea taken to hit the mark. The eight-year-old was an impressive winner of a Wolverhampton handicap in December but a couple of below-par efforts mean that she returns to turf on a very workable mark of 65, some 13 lb lower than when last seen on the surface. Her main rival on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings is Jordaura who, for all that it would be no surprise were he to bounce back now he is returned to what seems to be his favoured surface, has generally been operating below his best over the winter and will need to buck up his ideas if he is to trouble Cheers For Thea. 

Musselburgh's second race is a pretty open handicap over seven furlongs but it could be worth chancing Nant Saeson, who looks fairly treated when judged against the pick of his turf efforts. The four-year-old scored twice at Wolverhampton over the winter and it is well worth forgiving his two most recent starts, doing too much too soon on his penultimate outing before seemingly failing to handle the fibresand at Southwell last month. He has form on this sort of ground, having finished second at Redcar in desperate conditions last year, and he seems sure to go close here. 

The Evan Williams-trained Court Minstrel was a leading ante-post fancy for both the Betfair Hurdle and the County Hurdle only to miss those engagements and, for all that this race bears less prestige, it is still a fairly tasty prize to the winner. The six-year-old has shaped much better than the bare result on his last two starts in graded events and he is expected to show himself as being well ahead of his opening handicap mark of 131. 

Timeform UK SmartPlays

Back Cheers For Thea @ 6.05/1 in the 14:20 at Musselburgh
Back Nant Saeson @ 8.415/2 in the 14:50 at Musselburgh
Back Court Minstrel @ 2.829/5 in the 16:00 at Plumpton

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