Timeform UK SmartPlays: Tuesday February 18

We make one visit to Wetherby, for their 14:50. It's a reasonably competitive race, though now that Markem is on a roll it's difficult to ignore him on this hat-trick bid. He seemed to struggle with his breathing in his early days with the Rose Dobbin yard, but he's been much better since being fitted with a tongue tie. Markem won twice at Sedgefield in January, taking a fairly good race for the grade on the first occasion and again beating an improving rival to overcome a 5-lb higher mark late in the month. There has been no sign of his old problems on either start and, up another 6 lb ahead of today's contest, Markem looks set to go well again with the longer trip likely to be in his favour given his point form.

We stick to Taunton from here on. The track tends to put the emphasis on speed, today's conditions notwithstanding, and that could be crucial to the chances of selection Ceasar Milan (15:10). Somewhat like Markem, he was struggling to see his races out at the start of the campaign (reportedly bled on return/debut for Paul Nicholls). It seemed more a lack of stamina than physical issues that held Ceasar Milan back at Ascot last time and now he's been dropped in trip and had a tongue tie fitted. We're not unduly concerned about the second fact, more encouraged by an opening BHA mark of 117 which almost certainly underplays Ceasar Milan's ability. If he's able to reveal more of it today he'll take plenty of stopping.

In the very next race (15:45) selection Leviathan doesn't take much picking out; there's probably a greater need to assuage some doubts hanging over him. Although essentially a miler on the Flat, Leviathan had plenty of form on testing ground and transferred that to his early hurdles runs. Recent improvement has come under slightly less testing conditions than those that prevail today, but it's not as though Leviathan's progress has been ground dependent: much more likely is that he's simply thriving for his bang-in-form yard and can continue to improve for a while yet in the manner of so many similar types from the Venetia Williams stable. 

Timeform UK SmartPlays

Back Markem @ 7.87/1 in the 14:50 Wetherby
Back Ceasar Milan @ 2.8815/8 in the 15:10 Taunton
Back Leviathan @ 3.3512/5 in the 15:45 Taunton