Horse Racing Tips: Time for Hour to make a winning return

Catterick, 16.33 - Back Gastronomy @ 11/112.00

A wind operation, a return to twelve furlongs and a slipping mark could contribute to Gastronomy making a winning start to the new campaign in this eminently winnable handicap.

In a week where we will be treated to some terrific National Hunt action on Merseyside, a Class 6 middle-distance handicap won't be on the radar of many and probably rightly so given it involves a fair level of guesswork to try and decipher.

However, with three winners from his last eight runners at the time of writing, trainer Phil Kirby is enjoying an excellent spell of form and his seven-year-old is undeniably well treated following a spell in the wilderness.

The decision to revert back to a mile-and-a-half might help a horse than can be keen enough and the fact he reappears 9lb lower than he started the previous campaign gives cause for optimism his shrewd handler can exploit a basement mark.   

Nottingham, 17.10 - Back Just An Hour @ 7/18.00

The cross over of the two codes can be a tricky time for punters with the National Hunt crew arriving at the end of a long season and their Flat counterparts in the early stages of embarking on a lengthy campaign themselves.

Backing horses on their first run of the new term is a little like punting with one hand behind your back, but in the hope Just An Hour returns in the same shape he did 12 months ago then Rod Millman's gelding could be the answer to the Class 4 finale.

The underrated Devon handler took the wraps off a promising sprinter in Arry Up at Kempton last week with the speedster defying a 176-day absence to score tidily and hopefully it may prove a similar scenario for his stablemate at Colwick Park.

The selection, formerly trained by Joseph O'Brien and picked up shrewdly for 25,000gns, made short of a similar field over course and distance last April and Millman has engaged the skills of rider George Wood for the first time since that smooth success to try and repeat the trick.

Admittedly, Just An Hour's fitness must be taken on trust, but the early season signs from his stable are encouraging and it looks a chance worth taking.  

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