Who To Follow At Ascot On Saturday - 19/12/20

The penultimate event of the day is the Listed Handicap Chase over three miles and the Venetia Williams trained Espoir De Gueye is a horse that oozes class.

The six year old has been a great recruit for the yard over the years really coming into his own in 2019 when sent over fences for the first time.

Having finished second on debut at Chepstow over two miles behind Cheltenham festival winner Simply The Betts, he then stepped up in trip at Exeter and got off the mark.

Staying at that trip he landed another nice race at Ascot beating First Flow who has since gone on to be a star over fences.

Having been pulled up at the Cheltenham festival, he made his seasonal return at November at the Berkshire track and landed a nice event over 2m5f.

Although up in the weights the gelding steps up in trip again and the further he has gone the better he has been, especially at a track he has a great record at.

It is a huge day for trainer Philip Hobbs who fields some very live chances across the day, with the biggest being the star staying hurdler Thyme Hill in the Grade One Long Walk Hurdle.

Hobbs heads into the meeting on Saturday in some seriously good form having had nine winners from his last 41 runners which sees him posing a strike rate of 21.95%.

Aswell as Thyme Hill on Saturday, his other big chances on the day come in the handicaps with Smarty Wilde in the handicap chase and Oakley in the handicap hurdle being both weighted well enough to challenge.

Although we fancy Thyme Hill in the big race of the day we fancy Aidan Coleman to have a stellar day on Saturday with a handful of big rides as well as Paisley Park.

The rider is in sparkling form heading into the weekend having landed five winners from his 26 rides over the last two weeks, which sees him with a strike rate of 19.23%

Coleman obviously will be excited about riding Paisley Park in the Grade One, but in the lucky last has a superb chance with Time Flies By, who has bags of ability and could show it off getting weight off the field and having winning form on the ground.