Three factors to make the best of Chepstow's curtain-raising jumps fixture

For all that this weekend and Welsh Grand National day are the only occasions in the entire year when Chepstow is the focal point of jump racing, it is still an important course in the sport's ecosystem. These early weeks of the season proper, roughly defined as now until the November meeting at Cheltenham, also tend to be undersold in their importance.

How to best use this weekend, both as a betting medium in itself and applied to the rest of the season, therefore gets little attention. Here are a few guiding principles to get the most out of the meeting in prospect.

Learn from habit

In general, summer jumps form is significantly weaker than that in the autumn and spring and a similar, inverted relationship exists on the Flat. However, the distinction is blurred, particularly over jumps, by race fitness.