That looks an above average race dd. I would lean towards Spirit Bay getting the maiden allowance. NTD is in good form and after a winner at Wincanton, perhaps Jim Old's luck will hold. Bertie's Ballet is also not far behind on RPR so it is very much a 5 horse race on paper.

Disappointing to lose Haydock. You would have thought last week would have been more difficult, but this week has been a disaster, and plenty more wet weather to come this week. I managed to get a little over 3/1 Lump Sum, and last night it was smashed up. All the abandonment does is give the bookmakers a free steer for next time.

Really sorry that Haydock is off. It looked a good card for Wednesday. It will have to be Andrew Balding again.

I didn't know about it. If that was true then why an announcement now.

https://www.attheraces.com/news/2023/December/05/a-dream-to-share-sidelined-until-the-new-year

If it had been announced you wouldn't just say the same thing again. That would be pointless.

Of the Grade 1 one tracks, I get least excited by what Sandown has to offer. The slog up the hill on testing ground is not a great spectacle, and chances are that is what is going to be served up over the next two days. I suppose in a very poor week, something is better than nothing.

Just the two races of interest tomorrow, and very likely both will be decided by who copes best with the conditions. No bet races.

Had the ground been the total opposite I would have been firmly in the Josh The Boss camp. As it is I don't think throwing him at this race is a very wise move. After ruling him out, not sure any of the others are Grade 3 level, let alone Grade 2. The favourite looks plenty short enough, but it really is a pin job. If forced I would go with Personal Ambition who at least has boosted form, and finished his race off strongly.

For most of his chasing debut Stay Away Fay looked like getting beat. You would hope he can travel a bit better tomorrow. I wonder if, even on this ground, Giovinco might have a bit too much class for him. The Changing Man looks the part, but has just found too many ways to lose, and a soft finish is unlikely to suffice tomorrow.

Brandy is correct .Been a good while since it was announced hed had a knock and would be New Year b4 reappearance.

Well well. Thought that Insurrection was home for all money at the last but Skeltons on fire today. The winner looked a proper stayer.

Sticking with what I said before each of today's races.

Don't think that was a good renewal of the Grade 2, and I fancy had it been run on decent ground then Josh The Boss would have won. Hopefully, this experience hasn't set him back too much. Personal Ambition par for the course for Woods. Beats a shortie last time, half the price today, and is effectively beaten after a couple of hurdles. Pauling said he had worked on his jumping. Obviously, not anywhere near enough.

Giovinco looked a classier sort than Stay Away Fay until he was hampered by the loose horse, but the ground and track has decided the result. On reasonable ground in March, I would expect several runners to have too many gears for Stay Away Fay. If they want to win a race, I would go National Hunt Chase, but of course Nicholls wouldn't consider that idea. Powell on the deck again. Huge pressure on tomorrow. He badly needs to deliver on JPR One. No excuses.

That would be my thought. Unless we are talking very soft then likely they will both be outpaced. Hermes Allen should go Brown Advisory and Stay Away Fay to the National Hunt Chase. Nicholls comes across as a very stubborn character who when he makes a plan - however misguided - he just won't change course. I suspect most around him are frightened to disagree fo fear of getting both barrels.

It wasn't the greatest days racing before Henderson pulled the plug on his runners.

I know trainers are supposed to do the best for their horses, but the decision makes Constitution Hill look weak. It already feels like a nonsense that we only see him a couple times a season, and that in the main, for little more than exercise canters. I am guessing after the little scare at Aintree that we will not see him back up in trip, at least against decent opposition. Predictably, he then ducked the idea of going chasing. It seems as if so much is governed by a fear of defeat. He can't have it easy enough. I can't think of him in the same way as the hurdlers who ran in the vintage era. He is just too soft, and those around him appear to be cut from a similar cloth.

Not a day that will live long in the memory.

I ended up adding Aclass and Jurancon to JPR One for a small loss on the day.

To start with I think it is worth giving a mention to The Imposter. I would far sooner see column inches given over to the likes of him, rather than horses who rarely turn up.

Industrialist did have the look of a chaser, but is miles off the finished article. Who knows whether he ever will be, but if he is it is likely to be over fences, and upped in trip. My Trump Card easily won what was probably a pretty weak bumper. I would imagine the stable made a few quid each way on Aclass and Jackmoon. The jockey bookings told the story, and Aclass never looked likely to beat his stablemate. At Chepstow, it was a shame that The Jukebox Man didn't run. Bit of a surprise as well given he had form on soft and heavy. Village Master conceded cheap lengths at the start, and was never really at the races. I will carry on monitoring his progress, but post Sheehan, the jocks the trainer now uses makes it difficult to have anything more than a watching interest. I ended up backing Jurancon on the basis of him being very strong in the market relative to Ski Lodge. Not easy in those conditions, and he looked a thorough stayer in pulling clear of his old rival. He should make a nice staying novice, and perhaps a Welsh National horse in a few years. Pipe badly needs a good horse. The favourite didn't get home again, and probably wants a better surface. Not too excited by anything at Sandown. Not So Sleepy ended up with nothing to beat in the Fighting Fifth. The front two in the market were pretty woeful. I haven't quite given up on JPR One for the Arkle. He is a speed horse and ground/track would have been totally against that sort of horse today. That said I could do with Tizzard waking up to the idea of using Gingell on the better horses. Loyalty can sometimes be applauded, but Powell is going nowhere. At top level you need ability and confidence, and he appears lacking in both departments. Jonbon got the job done, but not much more than that. I can't imagine El Fabiolo is too worried.

Just to mention in the last few days I have added four more for the Festival:-

Ballyburn (Ballymore, as I write this Willie is probably chalking him down for another two mile novice)
Chapeau De Soleil (Aibert Bartlett)
Halka Du Tabert (Mares Chase)
Envoi Allen (Ryanair)

No Time To Wait ran out a comfortable winner, and not too surprisingly Western Diego bombed. I am sticking to the idea that the winner wants better ground, at least until he proves otherwise. Perhaps the slower ground does help with his very poor jumping technique. He doesn't seem to use himself as you would hope. He actually lost less ground when he crashed through them. He doesn't look ready for too much of a step up in class at the moment.

Not much on offer again tomorrow.

Big fields at Ayr where useful bumper winners, Florida Dreams and Esprit Du Potier compete in the two divisions of the maiden hurdle. Of the two I would be more hopeful of Florida Dreams. Esprit Du Potier was very ponderous on hurdling debut, and he could never dominate as he did in bumpers. He also looked like he wanted a step up in trip.

Thanks Geoff.
Thought I was going mad for a moment.

Rocheval quite promising in the opening national hunt juvenile - he looks pretty straightforward.

Called the two maidens correctly - just. Nothing infuriates more than a jock who concedes cheap lengths on an odds on shot. Tudor completely outrode McMenamin. Florida Dreams doesn't look as if he will come close to translating his bumper form leaving Richards still looking for a decent horse. Esprit Du Potier again jumped slowly, couldn't lead, and never looked likely to justify the short odds. He will go up in trip, but that won't improve his jumping. Finn Lough landed the extended each-way, but never threatened in the straight. He will also go up in trip.

Only just watched it back. It looks to me as if the jock has set a dawdle, and stolen the race. Plenty of stronger stayers not ridden to best effect. Milcree looked the horse with the most ability, but the jock struggled to translate that ability.

Fontwell aside, some small fields, but much more of interest tomorrow.

The opening two races at Punchestown feature a couple of horses, Arctic Bresil and Embassy Gardens, who so far haven't come to up to expectations. Arctic Bresil having got off the mark hurdles, subsequently looked soft. He needs to start delivering on that hype he has had since his point days. Embassy Gardens hasn't looked the most straightforward, but certainly has the scope to make a chaser. Likely that both will be too short for anything other than a watching brief. Killaney King makes his track debut more than a year after running out an impressive winner of his only point. Conditions on that day were very testing. You can imagine from that absence it hasn't been plain sailing. It will be interesting to see how he opens up relative to Blizzard Of Oz. Kish Bank was one of those Elliott point winners I mentioned earlier. He has very quickly been snapped up by Gigginstown, and likely will go off very short in the bumper. Little bit surprising to see The Jukebox Man at Ffos Las given pulled out at Chepstow because of the ground. He should win, but I will be keeping an eye on Ghost Hunter who started odds on to beat Fortunate Man in his point. Fortunate Man won his point in okay fashion, but didn't look the biggest, so happy to take him on tomorrow with Steel Ally. Also threw a few quid at the extra places on Inebranlable in the hope that he is better than he has shown so far. Lump Sum should take Wincanton's opener, but I doubt there will be any 3/1 around this time. Aworkinprogress also runs in this race. I can only imagine that the intention is to make him look as bad as possible.

Honeyball has entered the four jump breds out of the five entries he had the other day. Dark Material put in half the price it had been before. Problem with abandonments it just gives bookmakers a steer. As if they didn't already have enough in their favour.

Kish Bank (eventually well supported) never appeared to travel, but still managed to take what was probably a weak bumper. He looks a tall, sparely made sort, and you wouldn't have thought he would want too much racing. Honeyball duly took the Wincanton bumper with the outsider of the three. Dark Material ran no sort of race, stopping to a walk well before the turn for home.

Back to the mediocre tomorrow. Nicholls runs an expensive horse in the bumper. He cost a lot more than the horse that beat him in his point, despite appearing to be beaten on merit. You would imagine Cobden will just keep it simple. Kalahari King (an unfortunate copy) has a nice enough pedigree, but stable are struggling for winners, and only appears to be dabbling with the national hunt game. Apple Away should get off the mark over fences at Leicester. She won a point going right handed.

Again not much wrong, but another shocking day.

Annie Express 11/2-12/1. Where did that come from? It did mean that anyone who took an early price like myself ended up completely shafted. She travelled better than the favourite, but was just outstayed. I think swap the jockeys and you probably get a different result. Made worse by the later Nicholls favourite getting well turned over. Quebecois barely came off the bridle to win the last. You would imagine he would take in another bumper with a penalty. Kalahari King was supported. He travelled like the second best horse, but has ended up beaten half the track. So many of these well bred types are not conditioned well enough to win first time. For that reason it's getting harder and harder to bag a decent priced winner in these type of races. They either go to a fancied horse, or something from left field that has been revved up to win first time. Very little in between. Apple Away jumped very straight at Leicester. I immediately thought National Hunt Chase, but she has barely got a quote.

I should have mentioned Only By Night making her jumping debut at Naas. She has impressed on the bridle in bumpers on testing ground, and it is perhaps slightly surprising that she isn't trying to win another. A note of caution, the stable is in terrible form. Cromwell seems to flit in and out form every season.

wow. Didn't matter if he was keen, he is just very good. Gave the second a stone and won on the bit.