A brilliant afternoon of racing is headlined by the Festival Trials day at Cheltenham but more by the Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster and Le Reve in this competitive three mile handicap chase at 3.15.

Second to Rocky Creek off this mark (146) a year ago, the selection has been given a fairly lightly raced campaign mainly due to the ground and if the going is no worse than good to soft then this giant son of Milan looks sure to run well on a track highly likely to suit him.

His recent second at Kempton on unsuitably soft ground should have put an edge on him and he is preferred to the novice Le Mercurey and top weight Holywell.

The last named is another best suited by a spring surface and if he still has grade one claims then he surely has to go close off a mark of 159.

Of the remainder, Ziga Boy didn’t beat much last time out and has suffered an overreaction from the handicapper, but Dolatulo is interesting under the care of Denis O’Regan.

Cheltenham is likely to experience much softer ground and that should suit Thistlecrack and the current World Hurdle favourite should keep his unblemished record this season in the Cleeve Hurdle at 3.35.

The way he travelled like the wrath of God smacked of pure and unadulterated class and I think that he is a much more thorough stayer than Camping Ground.

I would love to see the last named in a soft ground Champion Hurdle but of course such a scenario is very much in the hand of nature.

There are some nice prizes on offer at Lingfield Park and of my three selections there the best value wager could well be the veteran Secret Witness in the opener at 1.40.

The 10-year-old has run two solid races here recently and to my mind has now been dropped to a mark off which he should really be in the firing line in the closing stages.

That rating of 63 is a career low and if he gets the run of the race from the home turn then I think he could record his first success since way back in May 2012.

Later on, also have a close look at Si Senor at 3.25 and Clement in the finale due off at 4.30.

The former has yet to win off this kind of mark but the set-up of the race looks sure to suit him and he looks the value over Rail Dancer and Intrude.

Clement finally came good earlier this week at Lingfield and off a marginally higher mark there is little doubt that the six-year-old is capable of following up in this competitive little event with several in form entries.