Saturday ITV Racing Tips: Mark Milligan with five to back on Betfair Chase day

• Mark has no less than five selections on Saturday

• He fancies a couple at Ascot

• Grey Dawning can go one better than last year in Betfair Chase

• It's Safer Gambling Week - bet at your best with Betfair's SG tools

13:15 Haydock - Back Kabral Du Mathan @ 7/42.75

Kabral Du Mathan has yet to finish out of the first two in six starts and he ran some crackers in defeat for Paul Nicholls last season, finishing runner-up in three consecutive 2m handicaps and ending his season being beaten only narrowly by Cracking Rhapsody in the Scottish Champion Hurdle.

Still only a five-year-old, he's got few miles on the clock and now makes a most interesting switch to the yard of Nicholls' protégé Dan Skelton, who has made a flying start to the new season.

The selection comes into this on the back of a breathing operation, which could well elicit even further improvement from him, and he'll be hard to beat from a mark of 140 that still looks pretty fair.

13:30 Ascot - Back Il Est Francais @ 2/13.00

Regular readers will know I fancied Il Est Francais for last year's King George and he ran a belter to finish second to Banbridge in the Boxing Day highlight. He didn't fare quite so well in the Ryanair at Cheltenham next time, but that isn't a track that plays quite so much to his strengths as Kempton and Ascot should suit him better.

This will be his first outing back over fences after a couple of spins over the smaller obstacles at the back-end of last term and he has now re-joined Tom George, who trained him earlier in his career.

Il Est Francais has a good record fresh and I'm hopeful a win here will set him up for another tilt at Kempton's Christmas showpiece.

14:25 Haydock - Back Hartington E/W @ 6/17.00

Having mentioned what good order Dan Skelton has his team in, there surely can't be many yards in better form than Joe Tizzard's currently, who is hitting at a 31% strike-rate in the last fortnight or so.

Tizzard's Hartington ended last season prematurely with a good second at Windsor in January, but he returned from 10 months off to land a Carlisle handicap earlier this month, finding some progression in the process.

This looks an open handicap handicap, but Hartington looks the type to find even more improvement with his trainer in such good form and we have the bonus of five places from an each-way perspective on the Sportsbook.

14:40 Ascot - Back Wodhooh @ 6/52.20

Wodhooh has been a winning machine for Gordon Elliott and did little to dent her reputation when finding only Lossiemouth too strong in the Aintree Hurdle on her final start last season.

Prior to that, the former Sir Michael Stoute-trained mare had been successful in all seven starts over timber including winning twice at Cheltenham, the latest of which came when taking the Martin Pipe at the Festival.

The steep rate of her progression is clear to see when viewed through the prism of Timeform ratings, advancing her opening figure of 118 to the current 149 she sits on with that firm.

That current rating gives her upwards of 11lb in hand of this field at the weights and she'll prove a very tough nut to crack.

15:00 Haydock - Back Grey Dawning @ 10/111.91

The Betfair Chase is always one of the highlights of the autumn and last season's renewal served up a cracker, with standing dish Royale Pagaille getting the better of Grey Dawning after a gruelling battle in attritional conditions.

However, the result maty well have been different had Grey Dawning not made a significant last-fence error and I'm confident he'll turn the tables on his old rival this time around.

The ground may not be quite so testing as last year either, which should tilt things more in favour of Grey Dawning, while the admirable Royale Pagaille is rising 12 now and needs to prove he retains his enthusiasm for the game after a tame finish to last term.

This is far from a two-horse race though, and Haiti Couleurs deserves plenty of respect.

The Rebecca Curtis-trained eight-year-old proved a revelation over fences last season and warmed up for this with a win over hurdles at Newbury a couple of weeks ago. That should have put him spot-on for this assignment, though he does still have a bit to find on the figures.

Now read Alan Dudman's Big Race Verdict on the Betfair Chase 

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