After a decent day on Saturday thanks to Ffos Las putting on a good days racing at late notice we move on to Sunday. Lingfield is the only track putting on racing in England but Punchestown is putting on some classy racing including the Grade 2 Moscow Flyer Novice's Hurdle which has been won by subsequent Cheltenham Festival winners Vautor, Douvan and Impaire Et Passe in recent years.
Punchestown
12:55, Sky Bet, For The Fans Novice Chase
Down Memory Lane 11/4, 2pts win
This is quietly a race with a decent roll of honour with Envoi Allen, Bob Ollinger, Impervious and Spillane's Tower the last 4 winners who have all gone on to better things. Lecky Watson looks a better chaser than he was a hurdler already and will be favourite here after turning over Supreme winner Slade Steel on chasing debut last time out. But I'm happy to take him on with the scopey Down Memory Lane. I thought he looked good when winning on his first go over fences in the autumn before putting in a strange display in a Grade 1 at Sandown in December. I was there that day and he really did look impressive in the parade ring. Sandown is a real jumping test and Gordon Elliott's 7 year old backed off plenty of the fences on the way round. Hopefully he will benefit plenty for that experience and this step up in trip will be right up his street. This race doesn't look as daunting as that I expect him to take this on his way to better things.
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Lingfield
15:42, Weekly Free Bets With BetMGM Extra Handicap
Ornately 5/1, 1pt each-way (4 places with SkyBet and Betfair Sportsbook, 3 places generally)
This is a pretty low level handicap but certainly compact with 4 pounds splitting 10 of the 11 runners. I quite like Ornately here. This will be the 3 year old filly's first handicap run and a mark of 65 looks pretty fair considering she is bred to be a lot better than that. Kaiya Fraser takes a handy 3 pounds off her back and she is handily berthed in stall 1 so hopefully she'll get plenty of cover as she has been a little bit keen in her races. Although she only managed to beat 1 horse home last time, she was beaten just under 4 lengths and after being drawn in the outside stall she was forced to be held up last throughout much of the race. This is a very winnable race and she could well be up to taking it.
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