Tony Calvin Antepost Tips: Back Lord Accord at 17/1 to light up Gold Cup

• TC vows to focus on the positives in antepost view

• Backs Lord Accord in the Coral Gold Cup

• Finds a saver to back too

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I am going to ditch the small-fields chat for the foreseeable as the disappointment is just unrelenting. It is quite obvious that the sport has deep-rooted problems that will take years to resolve, so there is no point bleating on about it week-in, week-out.

I am going to channel my inner positivity instead. If it exists.

That said - and you knew it was coming - I can't feel being a touch underwhelmed by the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday at 15:05.

And not simply because of the fact that it has attracted just 19 entries at the five-day stage for a race that could have housed 24 on the day, and for a contest that will see the winner taking home a £142,375 chunk.

One suspects that early-closing races could be discarded sooner rather than later, as we need every potential runner possible pitching up for these valuable handicaps.

I defy anybody to look at this year's contest and say it isn't anything other than a bang-average renewal, and it really wouldn't knock your eye out if it was positioned on a Friday in a big, pre-Cheltenham meeting.

But you don't need a Denman, a Many Clouds, a Smad Place, a Bobs Worth or a Native River - that is some roll call of recent winners, by the way - to make for a good betting contest, though you have to wonder whether you will get bigger prices about most of the runners come the weekend and with an extra place or two thrown in (all firms are current a quarter the odds 1,2,3,4).

Double entries to avoid

First things first, let's have a look at the doubly-entered horses. Top weight Fanion D'Estruval has two other options this week, and Chantry House is also entered in the Betfair Exchange Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle on Saturday. So maybe steer clear of that pair for now.

Furthermore, Lostinstranslation, Lord Accord, Le Milos and Our Power are entered in the Becher a week on Saturday.

However, you'd like to think they'd come here with the money on offer, and the race will hopefully stand up numbers-wise, though the likes of Sam Brown and Chambard want a fair bit more dig than seems likely (he says, hopefully).

Le Milos is unconvincing

The obvious other starting point when looking at early-closing handicaps are the horses officially well-in and we have two here, Le Milos and Lord Accord, who have 4lb and 3lb in hand according to the assessor.

I am not entirely sure about Le Milos.

Trainer Dan Skelton said recently that his recent Bangor win surprised him as he thought "he would take a blow, finish in the first four and improve for it." No-one told the market there though as he went off the 3/1 favourite and won by 4 ¾ lengths from Lord Du Mesnil.

Now, the time backs up the handicapper's opinion that it was a very good effort in the context of this race - you cannot argue with the clock, unless you are a trainer - but an 8lb rise for that over-estimates him (the runner-up was not wearing his usual cheekpieces, for starters).

He doesn't excite me at all at the Sportsbook's 7/1, though he is predictably bigger on the Betfair Exchange (11.010/1 at the time of writing).

Lord Accord can build on strong form

I have a lot more time for Lord Accord, but you have to worry that the ground could be a touch slow for him.

That may seem an odd thing to say given the going is currently good at Newbury (despite the track getting 10mm on Monday) and the ground is drying out quickly, but they are going to water all week it seems, even in the face of rain, and the site I use has a fair bit falling on Wednesday, Thursday and perhaps Saturday.

I simply believe courses are going to err on the side of caution after the Ascot debacle last week, and aim for good to soft, officially or not. I can't help but feeling that last weekend put the fear of god into the clerks (who have the least enviable jobs in the sport) for these big days, and the prospect of over-watering on top of rain is very real.

Still, I would hope that good to soft is the deepest we will get or trainers and owners of horses that like a decent surface will have every right to be aggrieved.

Soft ground would be a shame as Lord Accord would be a big player on his preferred surface, or even good to soft, as he can race off the same mark as when chasing home a leniently-treated Frodon in the Badger Beer, with the third 11 lengths away, on good to firm.

That is very strong form, on the back of a Cheltenham win in a good time last month, and the way this horse jumps and stays makes him my number one choice for the race at the current prices.

That ground scenario is an obvious concern - and connections have the option of keeping him back for the Becher Chase a week on Saturday if they deem it too soft, which is never a happy place to be in if you are an ante-post punter - but I am going to play win-only to small stakes.

The Sportsbook go 14/1 but he is 18.535/2 on the Betfair Exchange - and he is 16s in the wider marketplace, too - so a small win only nibble at 16/1 is advised if you can snaffle it.

I wouldn't go lower than 14/1 at this stage, wherever you are backing him (I'll settle my P & L at 14s if he does win).

Back Busselton to continue his progress

Busselton has form on a range of ground, but he is thought to much prefer a better surface, and it seems he is set to come here instead of staying at home for the Troytown at Navan on Sunday.

Now, this is one progressive 5yo, following up his second in a valuable big field handicap at Galway with a win in the Kerry National last time.

I appreciate Hewick probably had his measure when coming to grief at the last at Listowel and he is 7lb higher here - the same as his Irish mark - but there would have been no disgrace had he finished a close second there (and it was no given that he would have lost either, as Hewick didn't go silly-short in running).

And you have to love his profile, his youth and his Grade 1 experience from last season when looking at this weak renewal for 142-plus bags of sand. While he goes into the unknown over 3m2f here, he is totally unexposed as a stayer and saw the 3m out extremely well at Listowel last time.

One of my golden rules is not to tip doubly-entered horses when tipping in ante-post races and I imagine they will leave him in the early-closing Troytown on Sunday to give them options - though the winning prize at Navan seems to be just under a third of the Newbury pot - so the Sportsbook's 13/2 was plenty short enough to put me off.

But he is nearly six points bigger on the Betfair Exchange and, as I am personally going to have a nibble at 12/1 there, then I have to suggest you do, too.

He is 10/1 in the wider marketplace and that price on the Betfair Exchange is my minimum price to get involved with him. Again, that is the price I'll settle at for P & L purposes, for the sake of fairness.

I may try and get Remastered on board too at some point, but that can wait.

I am happy to keep my powder dry for Friday's ITV racing, and the other Saturday heats, too. It is never a bad thing to go into races unencumbered by ante-post positions.

Good luck.