The short-priced favourite, Jupiter Express, has Oisin Murphy on board for his first ride back after his 14-month ban, but whether the three-time champion jockey can improve a 1/19 record remains to be seen.
Another for the shortlist has to be David O'Meara's in-form veteran, Muscika, who recently beat a nine-strong at Wolverhampton, and because that race was confined to apprentice riders, he is not penalised for that win.
He has a very handy inside draw and Jason Watson, who has won on him three times before (including over this trip) is in the saddle, so another big run can be expected.
But one who can beat the veteran today is the Simon Pearce runner, Desert Boots, who showed that he is right back in form with an eye-catching run over this distance at Lingfield late last month.
18:00 (Chelmsford) Desert Boots
On that occasion, he was held up well off the pace in a race dominated by two prominent runners before coming with a strong late run from the back of the field to finish a never-nearer third of ten, doing much the best of those who tried to come from off the pace, with no horse finishing more strongly than him at the line.
Given how he raced against the pace bias, his effort needs marking up significantly and the make-up of today's race looks very likely to suit him. He loves to come from off a strong pace and he should definitely get that here, as no less than six of today's nine rivals have led at least one of their last three races and there is lots of early speed in evidence.
It is also worth noting that he has recorded figures of 1323 from his four six-furlong handicaps over the last couple of years, all of them on synthetic tracks.
He had a long lay-off between summer 2021 and his resumption in late October last year, but he resumed in very similar form to when he had signed off and he has now become dangerously well handicapped on his earlier form.
He doesn't often get a strong enough pace over this trip, which is why he spends much of his time racing over seven furlongs, and today's wide draw should be of little concern because he will be dropped in behind the pace in the early stages anyway.
In any case, the last six double-figure-sized fields over this trip have produced winners from stalls 10, 12, 10, 7, 3, 10, with a further three runners-up coming out of stalls 9, 10, 11 during that same spell.
With useful claimer Rose Dawes taking off an additional seven pounds (Desert Boots recorded his two previous wins under a claiming rider), the five-year-old should be doing some strong late work from off the pace down the home straight and this is his lowest mark since he won his first handicap as a two-year-old.
