Melissa, aka The Scout, is the current Racing Post National Press Challenge champion after she led the field of 11 tipsters to the finish in 2025. The stamina-sapping competition was based on more than 9,600 selections throughout the year. A good final furlong helped her cause, but Melissa has maintained her form – and set a new record by finishing top of the standings for a fourth month on the trot in February before tipping this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Gaelic Warrior.

Hello and a warm welcome to the first in the series of this tipping column, which aims to identify a couple of best bets for the week ahead.

I’ll be taking a look at the upcoming events with declarations and then picking out some horses to follow among the entries, as a lot can change before it’s race time.

We kick off with one at Bangor this afternoon, a handicap debutant from the Christian Williams stable called GOLDEN PRINCE (2.45).

The trainer has a particularly nice set-up with horses able to work away on the beach and sand dunes at Ogmore by Sea, Glamorgan.

My 6-1 selection has made three appearances over hurdles for a mark, starting at long odds each time and defeats running into double-figure margins.

But if you look at his sole point-to-point run, Golden Prince finished six-and-a-half lengths behind Taurus Bay (now rated 135), with Marsiac (127) in second place.

Although that is form not to take literally, it does suggest the five-year-old could better his previous efforts on similar going.

I made a note of BOLD LIGHT (4.00) for a future occasion when he finished fourth in a class two handicap hurdle at Kelso in February.

Reverting to the smaller obstacles at Newcastle after a couple of runs over fences, the Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore 13-2 trainee travelled really nicely into the straight, but just could not match the speed of course specialist Both Barrels and the progressive Good To Be Alive.

A place ahead of the reopposing Fingal’s Hill, Bold Light has dropped 2lb in the weights and connections also use Jack Power’s 5lb claim, the last jockey to have won on him in March of last year.

Backers have to take on trust that this horse will go with the same enthusiasm, given a set of uninspiring figures beforehand, but that is likely to be factored into his price in a race where others have questions to answer too.

On Wednesday, STORM POINT (7.00) has potential in the Virgin Bet Daily Extra Places Handicap, with connections choosing this seven-furlong event over a trip to Southwell the following evening.

The £121,000 yearling was one of the market leaders for his October 2025 racecourse debut at this circuit, but he bumped into Fort Rock, who has followed up under a penalty.

Although Ed Walker’s charge did not make the instant impact his price suggested, he improved gradually, finishing off his last race at Wolverhampton really well – and the two horses in front of him have scored since.

Harry Fry has Chepstow on Thursday and Newton Abbot on Saturday as possible targets for his upwardly mobile chaser KAP QUEST.

A nice type, he built on an encouraging debut over the bigger obstacles by breezing around Exeter at the start of the month and appears capable of defying a 9lb rise.

If the current top weight Blow Your Wad runs at the Welsh venue, the JP McManus-owned pick will get in off only 10st 5lb and he is fresher than most after just two runs in 2026.

Harry Skelton had his name down to ride BLUE CARPET (2.46) at the five-day stage yesterday, one of two entries for his trainer brother Dan in the Pertemps Network Challenger Stayers Hurdle Series Final Handicap Hurdle at Haydock.

The £40,000 contest one of the better spectacles on a quieter Saturday than usual, with Aintree’s Grand National meeting just around the corner.

To be eligible to run, horses have to have finished in the first eight in one of the qualifying events – and Blue Carpet won his at Wetherby.

I was taken with the way he moved into the race and he was caught among horses in the home straight where the hurdles come up quick enough.

Despite fluffing the second last, Blue Carpet recovered his poise, settling matters quickly once asked to assert and he is a progressive young horse in a field with a quite a few contenders aged eight or nine.

All odds are provided by William Hill and are accurate at the time of writing.