Kempton Placepot picks: Paul Kealy provides his perm for the big meeting

Kempton's card opens with a surprisingly competitive novice hurdle (12.10), but the pick for Placepot purposes looks to be , who arguably has less to prove on very soft ground than his form rivals.

He went close in a point-to-point on soft against a horse unbeaten under rules on heavy since, and he'll see out the trip well in the conditions.

has been running well over further and could appreciate the drop in trip, so he gets the nod too.

I can sniff an upset in the next (12.45) and will side with and outsider against the big guns, while the third (1.20) is far more competitive than the market suggests.

I wouldn't be at all sure about McFabulous given a proper test at 3m and he'd definitely prefer better ground, so my two against him are stablemate and , who is clearly going to be a lot better chaser than she was a hurdler.

It should simply be a question of how far for in the Christmas Hurdle (1.55), after which comes the King George (2.30).

has been my long-term ante-post fancy and I'm sure he'll run well, although I was banking on not running at the time I backed him, and I'm equally sure the last-named is the best staying chaser in Britain. Those two will do for this bet.

That just leaves a tricky novice handicap chase, in which a chance is taken on , who is developing into a decent performer for Nigel Hawke and may do better over fences, and , who is undoubtedly nicely handicapped on his hurdles form.