2:20 Haydock, Saturday 8th

Unfortunately, there isn’t much in the way of ‘meaty’ handicaps for us to get our teeth into on Saturday and the bookmakers seem slow to price up what action there is, so this week’s preview will inevitably be a little shorter, and involve more guesswork, than usual.

The Betfred Goals Galore Handicap (2.20) at Haydock appears to be one of the more competitive races of the day, with 13 runners set to face the starter, so we’ve tried to highlight a couple that could belie generous starting prices.

The joint bottom-weight, Amood, takes a step up in class but, bar one inexplicably poor run at York in June, has run respectably in defeat since winning over 1 mile 2 furlongs at Newmarket in May. He’s 5lb higher in the weights than when beating Zugzwang by a head in that 0-90 contest but, while that form hasn’t really worked out, his recent form over a mile suggests a return to further is in his favour.

Silvery Moon hasn’t won in this grade for three years, but it’s testament to his consistency that, despite being beaten on all eight starts this season, he’s only 1lb lower in the weights than he was at the start of the season. He’s possibly still just a little too high in the handicap to be considered for win purposes, but wasn’t beat far over a mile at Ayr last time, stays this far and is pretty much guaranteed to run his race. He’s the sort that’s likely to pop up at a decent price at some point and certainly wouldn’t be winning out of turn.

Green Light is 6lb better off for 2¼ lengths with Sennockian Star on their running at Chester in June and, while a drop of rain would aid his chance, remains one to consider. He finally got off the mark, at the tenth time of asking, at Nottingham in May and should appreciate the return to a galloping track. He’s been off the course since, but could be another who’s open to some improvement if fit and ready to do himself justice.

So, our three against the field this week, in no particular order, are Amood, Silvery Moon and Green Light. Unfortunately, no prices were available at the time of writing, but all three should be a fair shade of odds. Good luck!