James Hill's play of the day at Exeter

War Lord

One yard that tends to get off to a good start in the autumn is Joe Tizzard's, but he's already made a decent start to the campaign with five winners in the last two months at a strike-rate of 45 per cent.

Tizzard fields stable stalwart War Lord in the concluding handicap hurdle, with the grey sneaking into this 0-120 off a mark of 122. That's a far cry from the 145 he raced off when third in last season's Haldon Gold Cup, and he lost his way over fences following that effort.

However, a return to hurdles seems to be rekindling his enthusiasm. He finished a close third in a Newton Abbot Class 3 handicap in June before making the frame on his return from a break at the same track last time. That was over 2m5½f, which isn't really War Lord's trip, while he'll come on for that effort anyway, so it certainly helps that the handicapper has since dropped him another 1lb.