Today's Racing Tips: Potter can leave Ponte rivals snookered

• Captain can take command of staying handicap

• Returned to favoured venue can work the oracle

• Garfield worth chancing on track debut in finale

Pontefract, 16.38 - Back Captain Potter each-way @ 9/25.50

For a 0-70 staying handicap, the penultimate event on the Pontefract card is a competitive affair with plenty of interest.

The revitalised mare Queen Of Steel is sure to be prominent in the market given her improvement for new connections, while three-year-olds Jedhi Knight and New York Minute will also have their supporters given their profiles.

In the hope that the layers concentrate on the trio and feel that Captain Potter is exposed and beatable, we may be able to back the son of Almanzor each-way at one of his favoured venues following another solid effort at Southwell last time.

On and off the bridle, as is his way, Brian Ellison's five-year-old found some trouble in running early on and unsurprisingly found Southwell an insufficient test of stamina before keeping on into third at the line.

That event has already thrown up a couple of winners to endorse the form and Captain Potter should relish the return to Pontefract where his form figures read 421 with regular pilot Ben Robinson on board.  

 Pontefract, 17.08 - Back Sir Garfield each-way @ 11/26.50

I would normally shy away from backing a handicapper with no experience of the track they are trying to win at, but Sir Garfield may overcome that barrier given his run style.

Prominent racers over sprint trips at Pontefract often fare pretty well, so the son of James Garfield gains the nod given his RaceIQ data from the stalls suggests he is one of the quickest to reach 20mph in this field.

His last three races have seen him hit that metric in 2.22sec (Haydock), 2.32sec (Catterick) and 2.34sec (York) and compared with last time out course and distance winner Fierce (a likely candidate to be favourite here) who clocked 2.81, 2.87 and 2.50 respectively, there is a chance the selection can establish an early lead and dominate.

He does have a fellow pacesetter in Smart Vision in stall two, while Bay Breeze (1) also likes to race prominently, however I'm hopeful that the excellent Jason Hart can ping from the gates and dominate and, although his mount has no track knowledge, he didn't mind the climb to the line at Hamilton in June when he won and was then narrowly beaten by subsequent score Abduction.

A creditable sixth at York in a big-field handicap on his latest start - form endorsed by seventh-home Mister Sox winning since - the four-year-old hails from a yard which have their sprinters in a rich vein of form judged on last week's exploits at Goodwood.

Now read Katie Midwinter's Wednesday tips here