Friday ITV Racing Tips: Mark Milligan has three to back at Cheltenham

• San Salvador to strike in novice chase

• Calico the best bet with ground to suit

• Derek O'Connor can land amateurs contest

• Get A Completely Free Horse Racing Bet for the Cheltenham Showcase Meeting

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13:50 Cheltenham - Back San Salvador

The opening race on ITV's Friday card from Cheltenham is a 2m novices' chase and we've got a relatively short-priced favourite in the shape of Gavin Cromwell's Path d'Oroux.

The seven-year-old appears to hold a strong chance at the weights and will clearly be hard to beat, though it's probably worth noting he's yet to land a chase success from nine attempts.

His form looks solid enough but I'm happy to swerve him at the current prices and Joseph O'Brien's San Salvador makes more appeal at his current Sportsbook price of 10/34.33.

San Salvador himself took a few goes to get off the mark over fences but has really put it together on his last two starts, the latest when winning a Grade 3 contest at Roscommon, showing a decent turn of foot to take care of A Law Of Her Own approaching the last.

He looks firmly on the upgrade now and strikes as better value than Path d'Oroux.

14:25 Cheltenham - Back Calico

The following 2m handicap chase has a decent look to it despite attracting just nine runners and I'm confident that Dan Skelton's Calico can get back on track after ending last season with a bit of a whimper.

Calico ran well over this C&D on his return to last season, finishing second in a similar race to this at the November meeting, and it seems as though decent ground is the key to him nowadays.

His Kempton run last month when pulled up on his final start last season did take place on officially good going (Timeform called it good to soft), but it took place in foul conditions and the ground will have been deteriorating quickly.

I'm happy to ignore that, and Calico's overall body of work - linked to his good record when fresh - points to him as having a strong chance here.

He's also a pound lower in the weights than when running that good race at this track last November and the handicapper could well have taken a bit of a chance with him.

The Skelton team have also been flying in the last few days, recording a hat-trick of wins at Southwell on Wednesday, that coming on the heels of a winner at Exeter the previous day.

Back Are U Wise To That each-way

The 3m 1f amateur riders handicap chase at 15:35 has attracted a competitive field and has a really open look to it, but I quite fancy the chances of Derek O'Connor's mount Are U Wise To That.

His jumping hasn't been exactly flawless to date, but he retains plenty of potential and comes here more lightly raced than the majority of his rivals.

Twice a winner in the first half of last season, the second part of his campaign was rather truncated as he made just two appearances after the turn of the year.

He may not have been the easiest to train but his record fresh is a really solid one and he's attracted probably the best jockey available for this assignment.

As you'd expect, there are plenty of dangers lurking, with the likes of Atlanta Brave and Strictlyadancer heading them.

The latter is of particular interest having shaped encouragingly on his Chepstow return a couple of weeks ago, where he wasn't given at all a hard time, with this contest presumably the main aim.

The fact that Derek O'Connor is on Are U Wise To That swings it for me, however, while we also have the benefit of five places on the Sportsbook.

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