Sedgefield 3.40
Sedgefield 3.40 11 Christmas Twenty @ 25/1 (plenty of 33/1 in places) / 3 Moidore @ 14/1
(SkyBet / Ladbrokes / Coral go odds to 4th place IMPORTANT to use them if at all possible)
A trip of 2 miles and 5 and a half Furlongs, Going is Soft, bit of drizzle about and The Historic Going Stick indicates it
may well be very decent Soft and not Heavy Going if the stick readings are correct. We tipped WAZOWSKI last time
and it comes from the "McCain win factory"; may well win again but the step up in trip, in Grade and handicap rise
leave it vulnerable. I also think that the inconsistent Camron De Chaillac is vulnerable also upped in trip, higher mark;
doubts about the headgear working a second time and despite a long trip here is opposable. Dark and Dangerous would
be a far bigger danger over a shorter trip, Ever So Much has good Course and Distance form but all of it with "Good"
in the Going description and the Sue Smith horse Le Drapeau also has stamina concerns on all known form. The winner
may well be amongst that lot, but there are a few at big prices that have glimmers of form...
Oregan Gold and Randy Pike are big dangers at nice prices, the latter especially 12lbs below its last win over Hurdles
but I just think it may need the run here and both may just be better right handed as RPR form indicates that fact.
Art of Supremacy has glimmers of Irish form and the Trainer form is a worry; yet I think he has a better option here.
CHRISTMAS TWENTY is the notional Mickey Hammond second string, Hammond is a streaky Trainer; short bursts
where they all run well and then longer spells where they fail to fire. At the moment he is "cold" but he can burst in
to form at any time and there is something that jumps off the page about this horse. It has been Chasing, basically
it can't jump Fences very well, but it has an engine and is fit. Go back to 1 April 2016 (April Fools Day may be valid
if it vanishes out of the back of the screen); it finished runner up that day in a decent race at this Grade and Trip at
Wetherby off a mark of 111 for Stuart Edmonds, it runs off a mark of 98 here with a decent Claimer up, that is a
whopping stone better off, we know it CAN jump a Hurdle and actually that one bit of form taken in isolation is as
good as anything in the race at 25/1 and 28/1 early in places, got to be worth a pop...
MOIDORE we tipped last time out at it unseated, this one may well vanish out the back of the screen as all the best
form is at 2 miles 7 furlongs, but they go "up hill and down dale here" and it may run on late and nick a place at good
odds. It has form in soft and heavy, won at Bangor off a mark of 120 not so far back and runs here off a mark of 108;
another with a hefty chunk of weight theoretically in hand. The other interesting fact is that every now and again
they run it over 2 miles, it always looks like it is a "blow out" clear the tubes out, yet it proves in those races that
it can run at the kind of pace needed for this trip and if ridden sensibly to get the trip, can certainly be finishing
as well as anything coming down the hill in to the dip, and the climb here is a lot harder than the TV indicates.
The only other one to note and may be a small slither each way is BANNYS LAD form so far over 2 miles and
3 furlongs and may still need this run, but has 3 miles P2P form and the wily old Trainer books Harry Bannister
to ride Bannys Lad and the Owner is M Bannister....I won't fall down the stairs if it pops up!