In latest horse racing picks, Howard Johnson hopes a breathing operation can help Tidal Bay return to his best at Aintree on Saturday.

His stable star runs in the tote ten to follow Old Roan Chase and the trainer is expecting a big run.

"We are looking forward to getting Tidal Bay back on the racecourse. We had him hobdayed through the summer and we are hoping that has tidied him up. I would say at the minute that he will probably be our standard bearer this year," said Johnson with sports betting community.

"He jumped a few fences indoors on Monday morning and looked good. He'll school outdoors if it keeps drizzling like it is now and he will have a piece of work with Denis O'Regan up, probably on Tuesday. If I'm happy and the ground is alright, we'll go to Aintree.

"He is training well and we'll weigh him on Wednesday. He actually looks like he's carrying a lot more condition this year, which is good because he always looks Gorky."

Johnson is pleased with the form of his stable at present, which boasts a 33% strike rate this month, with nine wins from 27 runners.

He said: "The horses in horse racing betting generally are alright, I'm happy enough with them, it's just that we haven't been able to get on the grass yet. The ground has been too firm and the racecourses don't help us trainers in the north east because they won't let us work our horses on the tracks."