1pt win Beast Of Burden @7/2, Newbury 14:10

There’s some nice racing at Newbury on Thursday, with the Grade 2 Bet365 Novices’ Chase standing out.

French Champion Hurdle winner Un Temps Pour Tout is the favourite after a solid chase bow at Cheltenham’s Open meeting. He was beaten by the outsider Vicente that day, a defeat that his trainer blamed on fitness.

That was just 12 days ago, but he should have improved since and is a worthy favourite. It’s just a little too easy to find holes in his early-season hurdle form to back him at 9/4, and I’m keen to take him on.

The one that immediately stands out is Rebecca Curtis’s Beast Of Burden, who unseated Paul Townend at Chepstow when well on his way to justifying short-priced favouritism on his chase debut.

It was a novice mistake, but he stayed on his feet so I’m not too concerned it’ll knock his confidence, and, having completed all but three fences in that 23-furlong tip, he too should improve for the run.

He receives weight from most of his opposition – as does the favourite – and his best form is on soft ground, so I’m ruling out his poor run on good ground in last season’s Neptune and taking the somewhat-generous looking 7/2. Coral offer a free bet refund if your horse falls, which looks like valuable insurance given his previous.

Value At Risk, another who receives weight, looks an obvious threat with course form and a similar profile, but didn’t have ground as an excuse in his own Festival race and is passed at the prices.

1pt win Beast Of Burden @7/2 or best morning price, Newbury 14:10

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