Timeform Notebook: Sea can Master three miles

Nigel Twiston-Davies: Trainer of Master of The Sea

Timeform suggest a trio of horses to follow in the latest instalment of the Notebook...

Suggesting a progressive, Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained six-year-old that has won his last three starts is hardly ground breaking, but hear us out on this one. A half-brother to the fairly useful chaser Inside Dealer, Master of The Sea cut little ice on two starts in bumpers and three novice hurdles but, upon being switched to handicaps, his form has taken off, progressing at a rate of knots in racking up a hat-trick with wins at Hereford, Aintree and Wincanton. It is his most recent success that has really taken our eye as many of the principals in the field were not fully exposed and the eventual runner-up, Highland Retreat, is improving herself so the fact that Master of The Sea could win by five lengths and still have plenty in hand is most encouraging. He will be suited by a step up to three miles and holds an entry over just that distance at Doncaster on Friday; clearly much depends on the weather as to the meeting going ahead but, given the potential competitiveness of such an affair, we could just find Master of The Sea trading at a tasty price. 

Our next two selections both ran at Newbury last Wednesday, with the Alan King-trained Dalavar catching the eye in no uncertain terms as he finished fourth to Chiberta King in a novice hurdle over 19 furlongs. On racecourse debut in November of 2011 Dalavar finished second to The New One in a Warwick bumper and, although he made a fairly quiet start to life over hurdles, progressing steadily, the signs were much more positive on his latest start. The way in which the five-year-old improved from so far back in the field approaching the straight is well worth noting, and he remains very much unexposed were he now to head into handicaps. 

The Paul Nicholls-trained Fago made an impressive British debut in a novices' chase at Newbury but of more interest for Notebook purposes is the Charlie Mann-trained Prolinx, who finished fifth in the same race. Although an eight-year-old he was very lightly raced over hurdles, taking to the track on just three occasions and not being unduly knocked about on any occasion, and he is very much a chaser on looks being a strong, useful-looking gelding. His effort behind Fago, after seven weeks off, was an encouraging one, travelling well towards the rear of the field and creeping closer two from home before making no impression thereafter. He was not given at all a hard time by jockey Sam Thomas and he strikes as one sure to improve over fences. 

It has been a fairly quiet week on the Notebook front, taking into account the adverse weather conditions, but one of our earlier selections on the all-weather, English Summer, managed to get his head in front at Wolverhampton, returning at a fair price of 5/2. 

Among those to have already been highlighted that hold upcoming entries, there are three of note. Firstly the hugely impressive Puffin Billy, unbeaten in four starts to date, could further test his Cheltenham credentials in a Grade 2 on trials day this Saturday, although the meeting at the moment reportedly hangs in the balance. Ifandbutwhynot holds a plethora of entries, on both Friday and Saturday at both Cheltenham and Doncaster, whilst the Donald McCain-trained Super Duty could bid to follow up his Cheltenham win of last month by taking in a novices' chase at Doncaster on Friday. 

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