Timeform UK SmartPlays: Tuesday September 16

It's been a long time since Smarty Socks was rated as low as 85 by the BHA and therefore a long time since he ran in a race as low-grade as Thirsk's 15:40. Low-grade is relative in this instance, though Smarty Socks generally competes in handicaps against horses rated in the 100s or even higher. He's slipped down the weights this year, wilfully it seems on his last two starts given some confidence-boosting rides. In a race that should allow him to show his best again, Smarty Socks can take advantage of the drop in grade.

We switch to Yarmouth hereafter, with our first bet coming in the day's highest-profile race, the Class 2 handicap at 16:30. You fancy that Kinshasa would be a clear favourite but for a subdued run last time and it is possible to mitigate that showing, chiefly on the basis that he was poorly positioned in a race full of similarly improving three-year-olds.  This is a competitive race too, though there are fewer rivals and it probably needs only one to make it into a test for Kinshasa to have much better than a 3.02/1 chance.

The minor event at 17:30 could begin and end with Rex Imperator, who won the Stewards' Cup last year and would almost certainly win if able to reproduce that sort of form. He's been badly out of sorts all year, however, which really does open up this contest. That considered, Khubala is priced up a bit too dismissively. He ran some fine races in handicaps himself during 2013 (fourth in the Wokingham) and looked very much in need of the run on his belated run last month. Early in the campaign, if not totally fresh, seems the best time to catch Khubala and if he's back in form this looks a reasonable opportunity- assuming there's no resurgence from Rex Imperator, of course.

Timeform UK SmartPlays

Back Smarty Socks @ 8.415/2 in the 15:40 Thirsk
Back Kinshasa @ 3.185/40 in the 16:30 Yarmouth
Back Khubala @ 6.411/2 in the 17:30 Yarmouth