Racing tips: Empire De Maulde looks primed to win the feature at Kelso

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Yesterday's selection looked to be playing a big part until folding away tamely as he got swamped by the closers when coming to either two or three from home. I think he didn't stay the trip, but it was either that or he needed the run. I've avoided Cheltenham for today's racing and my eye is drawn to one at Kelso.

Kelso 3:19 (what an odd time)

This is a very nice pot for the start of the new jumps season, especially from a Northern based track, well a Scottish track to be more accurate. This race gives the winning connections £20,812, which is very nice to see. For a race of this nature you'd expect a decent turnout, but even though there isn't many runners, it still appears to be a good race on paper. My eye was drawn to the horse at the bottom of the handicap with, EMPIRE DE MAULDE.

I get the feeling that this race has been the target for this horse for some while. James Ewart, the trainer of Empire De Maulde, brought this horse to this track around a month ago. That was definitely a pipe opener and used as a warm-up race for something down the line, which I think will be this race. The horse had a wind-op over the summer and it's interesting that James put him in a race which is clearly over a trip which is too short, of 2m 1f. That would've been a cracking warm-up for this lad as the fast pace would've got his fitness into gear a lot better than a crawl over a longer distance. Also, at that kind of trip, the jumping will be much harder as they will be travelling at a higher speed, so it was also a good test for those reasons too. You can see why this race has been a target, as it offers a good amount of money and connections probably knew there wouldn't be many horses to compete against as Cheltenham is on at the same time, which always attracts horses.

His form over fences during the summer appears to be quite good. The manner in which he won at Aintree was visually very impressive. He cruised through the race and won with his ears pricked. They then went to Cartmel where in hindsight, he finished 2nd to a well-handicapped horse. He has to give away 20lbs to that horse lto, and was only beaten by 1.5 lengths, and that horse went on to win again and has improved in the ratings from 113 when they met to 127. Like I mentioned before, his last run was a 2nd placed finish over a much shorter than ideal trip, but the Racing Post still really rate that run and ranked it as a 137 rated performance. That was his first run since the wind-op, and quite often it is the 2nd run after a wind-op where you see the improvements.

Out of the opposition, I'd say Fortescue is the main danger. Henry Daly sends this lad on a long trip and he's clearly in good form from when he last raced. He might need the run, but also his stamina at this trip is in question even though he stays 3m.

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