Steve Ryder Boxing Day Racing Tips

Many of these have question marks about their recent form but that is not the case for the Adam West trained PRESUMING ED (best priced at 7-4). The six-year-old was an easy winner over this course and distance last month when he defeated Inifiti by 2 ¾ lengths. The handicapper raised the son of Westerner 6lb for that victory up to a mark of 101 and he ran well to finish 2nd at Leicester 28 days ago. 

Presuming Ed finished 7 ½ lengths behind the impressive winner Ace Time that day but that rival has boosted the form with a 6 ½ length victory on his next start and is now rated 15lb higher (ran 3lb out of the handicap too) and Presuming Ed finished 9 ½ lengths clear of the third that day. He runs here off the same mark so looks well handicapped and should prove hard to beat. 

Trainer Tony Martin has a good record in this novice handicap hurdle and I think MARVEL FAN (best priced at 13-2) is a worthy market leader in this race. He had Artful Artist finish 2nd in 2016, Toor General finish 3rd at 25/1 in 2017, Share The Honour finish 2nd in 2018 and The Mouse Doctor finish 4th in 2019 so it is clearly a race that he targets at this festival. 

Marvel Fan defied odds of 40/1 to win last time at Gowran Park on her reappearance off a mark of 108 and the mare looked to have plenty in hand off that mark. The handicapper has raised the five-year-old 7lb for that victory but connections have booked the talented 5lb claimer Maxine O’Sullivan to negate most of that rise and she should run well with up to seven places available. 

The Tom Dascombe trained MISTY GREY (best priced at 7-2) is unbeaten at Wolverhampton in his three career runs to date including in this race last season. The son of Dark Angel was previously trained by Mark Johnston where he appeared to lose his way but won his first three starts for Tom Dascombe at this time last year. 

Misty Grey won off marks of 90, 95 and 99 last year and is now rated 103 but he did run well to finish 2nd in a listed race at Kempton last time. The handicapper has generously dropped him 1lb for that effort down to a mark of 103 and I expect him to run well. 

HEROSS DU SEUIL (best priced at 9-2) was an impressive ten length winner at Kempton this time last year and he should hold strong claims in this race on his first run up in trip. The four-year-old defeated the 130 rated Her Indoors on his UK debut before finishing 2nd behind Cabot Cliffs at Warwick in February.

Heross Du Seuil made his handicap debut at Newton Abbot in May off a mark of 126 when 2nd behind Amarillo Sky over 2m1f but now returns from 235 days off the track and goes up in trip to 2m5f for the first time. The third that day Chez Hans won his next five starts and is now rated 17lb higher so the form looks strong and he looks well handicapped off a mark of 125 and should prove hard to beat. 

This is probably one of the lowest standard races of the 76 on Boxing Day but I feel that LOFTY (best priced at 33-1) is overpriced despite a wide draw. His one career victory came off a mark of 70 when trained by David Barron but his mark has plummeted down to a mark of 53 following below par efforts on both the turf and AW. He joined Laura Morgan in October where he made a low key stable debut at Redcar under Violet Barton before finishing 2nd over this course and distance earlier this month in a first-time tongue tie with Jason Watson on board.

Lofty once again underperformed under Violet Barton last time but is ridden by Trevor Whelan in this race. The five-year-old runs here once again off a career low mark of 53 and he should run well with four places on offer with cheekpieces back on.