Half time in Istanbul

Well if last night was Christmass eve then this morning a few of us woke up with sacks of coal at the bottom of our beds! Still 3 days to make it all back though!

In the first Allee Garde prob has the best single piece of form in coming 3rd to Last Installment (beaten a hd by First Lieutenant) but think he might lack the experience here and as with most of these horses it is hard to tell if the extra mile is an advantage or disadvantage, should be suited by ground but I would prefer side with a horse with a little extra experience in Teaforthree who ran Join Together to 1 1/2ls here back in November and has had a couple of easy wins either side of his Stephens Day flop at Kempton. Would be big against Harry the Viking who has 2 chase starts in 6 runners fields..this is a completely different proposition.

1pt e/w TeaforThree @7/1

Neptune Novices:
Not on happy ground here - I haven't seen Simonsigs defeat to Fingal Bay so I am relying on other peoples word that he seemed to lack moral courage and just surrendered when challenged..if that is the case I couldn't back him at any price not to talk about 5/2 for this. Unfortunately the best way of opposing him seems to come in the form of a Noel Meade horse which given Meade has a similar Cheltenham record to sobriety doesnt' fill me with a huge amount of confidence. That said Monkslands destruction of Lyreen Legend is a pretty impressive piece of form and if he goes on the ground we could be in for something special. Of the rest Beneficient probably doesn't get the recognition he deserves for his win the last day and could play a part in the end at a big price.

1.5pts win Monksland 11/2
0.5pts place Beneficient 6.2

RSA:
Not entirely convinced that Grand Crus is going to properly see out this trip - up against 2 battle-hardened warriors here on their favourite track and think there are enough reasons to leave him alone at 13/8. Always been a fan of First Lieutenant and can't really judge him off his early season form where I think the trainer messed him around a bit and over-raced him trying to get jumping experience into him. Been given a break since and should be close to his best tomorrow.....that said my preference is actually for Bobs Worth. Another horse who hasn't been seen at his best yet this season and was very impressive in his first race back after an operation when chasing home Invictus a few weeks back. He has course form figures of 111 and I'll be backing him to add a 4th 1 to that tomorrow.

1.5pts e/w Bobs Worth best morning price

Champion Chase:
To start with Big Zeb is too old and in decline, also Sizing is older than he seems and although i think it will be next season before we see any decline in him it has to be remembered he comes here just 5 weeks after running Big Zeb into the ground in the mud in Punchestown which is just on the cusp of most horses recovery time. Looking through the field there is not much strength in depth and only really leaves Finians Rainbow who looks nailed on for a place and I'd be hopefully he can upset the favourite. Ran a decent 2nd in the Arkle last year and seems to have continued his improvement this year (like his jumping a lot more now). He travels well and if Sizing is not on top form I think he will capitalize.

2pts e/w Finians Rainbow 5/1

Coral Cup:
Looking at previous trends Cape Dutch looks like a good way of opposing hype horse Balgarry and Poole Master and the great but over-burdened top weight Get me out of Here

0.75pts e/w Cape Dutch 16/1

Fred Winter:
In a minefield of plot horses I fully accept that I will inevitable lose in this race to some nag running 3 stone above any known form but at 16/1 its hard to ignore the proven form of Edeymi. 3rd behind Darroun and Hisaabat at Leopardstown being a pretty impressive performance.

Champion Bumper:
Best adivce I can give here is turn off the laptop, turn off the tv and go have a pint...you're not missing much value here.