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Nosey Barker has reportedly been working well since making all to win his maiden, over 1 mile 2 furlongs, at Lingfield 15 days ago and could be the answer to the 2.00 at Southwell on Thursday. Richard Hannon’s four-year-old has run creditably in defeat on both previous starts on Fibresand and his earlier form over a mile suggests he won’t be inconvenienced by dropping back in distance.

Sprint handicaps aren’t usually the most reliable source of winners, especially for multiple bets, but Bring On A Spinner was well supported when winning his maiden over course and distance, on just his second start, on New Year’s Day and doesn’t look overburdened on his handicap debut in the 3.05. The Kheleyf gelding is 6lb worse off for 2 lengths with Koothrappali, but may have more scope for improvement than David Barron’s colt, who’s already had six starts.

Luke Morris has ridden Masqueraded to both career victories, so it’s interesting that he switches allegiance to Cape Of Glory in the 3.40. The son of Cape Cross makes his Fibresand debut, but was a convincing winner over 1 mile 2 furlongs at Chelmsford earlier this month and doesn’t look badly treated if taking to the surface on his handicap debut.

Selections: Southwell 2.00 Nosey Barker, Southwell 3.05 Bring On A Spinner, Southwell 3.40 Cape Of Glory, 1-point Win Trixie (3 x 1-point Win Doubles, 1 x 1-point Win Treble)

Thursday’s Newcastle fixture has been abandoned leaving Towcester as the only National Hunt meeting of the day but, even so, we have two quite strong fancies that we hope can start the New Year with a bang.

The first of them, Eminent Poet (1.35), carries no penalty for winning a conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle, over 2 miles 3 furlongs, at Taunton eight days ago and shouldn’t be inconvenienced by dropping back in distance on a testing track. That win confirmed the promise of his previous third of six, beaten 13 lengths, behind subsequent winner Dormouse over 2 miles at Lingfield and he appears to have an obvious chance of completing a double.

The second, Rosa Fleet (2.05), wasn’t beaten far off her current mark at Bangor last month and should appreciate the steep climb to the home turn at Towcester and the continuing rise past the winning post. Venetia Williams’ mare remains 1lb lower in the weights than her last winning mark over hurdles and is fully effective on soft going, so she looks a decent bet to bring up a double for the Herefordshire trainer and, of course, for this column!

Selections: Towcester 1.35 Eminent Poet, Towcester 2.05 Rosa Fleet (win double)

Fibresand, the racing surface at Southwell, is deeper and looser than Polytrack (Chelmsford, Kempton) and Tapeta (Wolverhampton) and horses that run well on it once often do so over and over again. With this in mind, we’ve selected two horses with previous winning form at the Nottinghamshire track for our ‘deadly’ double this week.

Our first selection is Patriotic in the Ladbrokes Handicap (2.30). The Pivotal gelding hasn’t won for nearly a year, but is consequently 3lb lower in the weights than when winning over course and distance last December. Indeed, he wasn’t beaten far in a much better race, off an 8lb higher mark, on his last visit to Southwell in January, so makes no little appeal from a handicapping point-of-view.

Our second selection is Countermand in the Coral Mobile Just Three Clicks to Bet Handicap (3.30). The Authorized gelding made his first visit to Southwell a winning one, when staying on well to beat Rebel Collins by 11 lengths and, with the runner-up winning by a wide margin at Wolverhampton three days later, the form looks even stronger than it did at the time. Andrew Balding’s 3-year-old steps back into handicap company off a 5lb higher mark, but could still be open to significant improvement over middle distances.

Selections: Southwell 2.30 Patriotic, Southwell 3.30 Countermand (win double)