Timeform UK SmartPlays: Tuesday December 31

The 13:40 is a competitive little affair. It's also a novice handicap, which brings in the extra dimension of picking between those with chasing experience and those coming in completely unexposed from hurdle races. This time preference is for the latter, specifically in the form of the race's sole chasing debutant Tresor de Bontee. He won a bumper in France but took a while to get going for the Richard Lee yard, eventually coming good to win handicaps on two of his last three starts. Up a fair 8 lb for his most recent success, Tresor de Bontee is proven at the track and in likely conditions. The question over his suitability for fences can't be answered for certain, though all circumstantial evidence points to him being at least as good in this sphere so he has a strong chance of making a successful first attempt.

Scots Gaelic (14:10) has made just four starts for the John Quinn yard thus far, but all along he's shaped like a horse with more to give for his new connections. A couple of runs (one Flat, one hurdles) to blow off the cobwebs have been followed by a non-staying seventh at Haydock and his most encouraging run yet for Quinn at Musselburgh last time. Dropped right out by his inexperienced rider, Scots Gaelic stayed on eye-catchingly to finish an admittedly distant third. It was a run about promise rather than achievement, and with his mark now finally slipping Scots Gaelic can do better again in the hands of the excellent Noel Fehily.

There's a degree of forgiveness required with our final selection of 2013, though admittedly it's easier when the race is as weak as the 15:10. On the evidence of his penultimate run, Goodacres Garden is an unexposed- if slightly lazy- handicapper who will surely defy a lowly mark of 87 sooner rather than later over three miles. The only problem is that there's been a blip in between, with him finishing down the field over the trip at Musselburgh. Still, he had set off hard enough that day and, on balance, is well worth giving another chance to.

Timeform UK SmartPlays
All at Uttoxeter
Back Tresor de Bontee @ 3.711/4 in the 13:40
Back Scots Gaelic @ 6.86/1 in the 14:10
Back Goodacres Garden @ 3.711/4 in the 15:10