Paul Kealy's play of the day at Haydock

Involvement
1.15 Haydock

The Simon & Ed Crisford-trained Involvement was a fast-ground winner at Redcar on his debut last September and hasn't raced on anything slower than good so far, but he has a half-sister with winning form in the mud, and more importantly he looks like a horse with a lot more to come.

There is an argument for saying the son of Lope De Vega (who gets plenty of soft-ground performers) should be unbeaten as nothing went right for him on his next two outings, the first at Newcastle in November when he had to be switched round most of the field to get a run, and then at Epsom last month when he was pinned on the rail and had to wait before again switching round against the camber.

Both times he was running under a big penalty and both times he raced freely in the early stages but still came home strongly, so there has to be a fair chance he will step up on those efforts given a solid gallop in handicap company.

There are enough prominent racers in the field to ensure at least an honest pace, and if Involvement does handle the ground, which may not be that bad by race-time anyway, I reckon he's one of the more promising horses in the field.