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KEMPTON Park and Newcastle lead the way this weekend over the jumps, while the Winter Derby is the feature event on the level at Lingfield Park with several interesting punting races for us to decipher.

The Handicap Chase (Kempton 3.37) is the big punting race of the day and with a dry weather forecast, spring horses need only apply for this spring three miler, cue bottom weight CAP DU NORD.

A late closing fifth in this contest last year, this definitive hold-up handicap chaser is now set to run off a handicap mark some 15lbs lower and with the ground drying up so his chance has gradually improved through the week.

I am hoping that his regular jockey Jack Tudor will be brave enough to hold him deep off a fast pace and close from the home turn. His light weight should enable him to pick up the front runners down the home straight and anything in the region of 7/1 looks cracking value.

Of his rivals, market leaders Annsam and Five Star Getaway have obvious claims and are huge dangers, while of the bigger priced entries, Galahad Quest remains well weighted if he can put in a clear round of jumping.

The Adonis Hurdle is the last-chance saloon for the four-year-old hurdlers putting in a last-minute bid for the Triumph Hurdle and the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

The unbeaten Knight Salute will be bidding to complete a five timer, while rated as high as 101 on the flat, the Paul Nicholls-trained Pleasant Man is set to make his hurdling debut in this Grade Two affair. But the value play here could well be MOKA DE VASSY, a staying on second to the impressive Pied Piper in the Finesse Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last month.

Elsewhere on the card, the step up to 2m5f (4.10) looks just the ticket for the feather weight on the back of STORM DENNIS (nap).

All at sea on three of his last six runs on soft and heavy ground, it has been a different story on good to soft and good ground, on each occasion staying on strongly in the closing stages.

His success on a sound surface last time out at Huntingdon was hugely impressive and even though he is stepping up in grade here off a 5lbs higher mark, I think he will more than improve to bridge that penalty stepping up to a more natural trip for him.

At the other end of the handicap, the top weight Stoner’s Choice could prove the biggest danger now that he is back on a quicker surface.

The Eider Chase (3.15) at Newcastle has in the past been an outsider’s guide to the Grand National, but hardly in recent years, the last horse to win both races being Comply Or Die way back on 2008.

If he fences as well from the front as he did in the Classic Chase at Warwick then Eclair Surf looks sure to run well off a 10lbs higher mark, but how will he cope with the drying ground at the Gosforth Park track?

Some 13lbs lower than when falling in this race last year, Brave Eagle could be dangerous if finally putting it all together here and he may well be worth a saver behind my selection COURT MASTER (nb), recent course winner over three miles.

This is the first time he has raced over a distance in excess of three-and-a-quarter miles, and I fully expect him to relish it — and at around 10/1 he looks a very solid each-way play in the declared field of 17.

MINELLA PLUS is taken to return to winning form on the back of an already successful season when he carries top weight in the two mile handicap hurdle at 3.50, while INFORMATEUR looks nicely treated off a handicap mark of 127 at 4.25.

Chepstow kicks off the action at 12.35 and unlike all the tracks around the country, the ground is set to be gluey and testing at the West Wales track.

That should certainly suit FOUND ON in the two-and-a-half mile handicap chase at 1.43. This will be the first time in seven outings that he has encountered such a testing surface since winning off a handicap mark of 114 over hurdles. Set to race off exactly the same rating here, the seven-year-old can make the most of the 6lbs she is set to receive from Lady of the Night.

Later on, the veteran BALLYANDY is taken to follow up his impressive Fakenham success in the staying handicap hurdle at 2.18, while I shall also be having a slice of the double figure price of TIMELY GIFT in the staying handicap chase at 4.00.

On the level, FANCY MAN could be hard to hold in the feature Winter Derby at Lingfield due off at 2.05. He was hugely impressive on his return to action in the Winter Derby Trial here over the course and distance three weeks ago. He may well have the edge over Lord North and Alenquer. The latter surely needs further than this, while the Gosden runner may need a run to put him straight for bigger prizes further down the line.