Festive Fancies - Best bets for Christmas The action will be coming thick and fast over the Christmas period with no less than eleven meetings scheduled for St Stephen’s Day alone in Ireland and the UK, so it is imperative that you pick your punches carefully if you are going to come out ahead of the bookies. Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival will see many of the most exciting prospects in National Hunt racing taking each other on in highly competitive contests over four days of pulsating racing action. Willie Mullins will have his usual strong team of representatives in all the top races at the Dublin track and looks likely to win the Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle on the opening day’s action at Leopardstown for the first time in six years when he sends out current Triumph Hurdle favourite Lossiemouth. This French import was most impressive on Irish debut at Fairyhouse when she beat her stablemate Zarak The Brave by four lengths. She won’t be much of a price for Monday’s race, a shade of odds-on with BoyleSports, but is hard to oppose all the same. The Champion trainer will also be well-represented at Limerick on St Stephen’s Day. His Kilcruit has leading claims in the Featured Faugheen Novices Chase, but perhaps the one to concentrate on at this meeting is the stable’s Coole Cherry in the concluding Bumper. The form of her two runner-up finishes is working out very well and it’ll be a surprise if she doesn’t get her head in front this time for the Blue Blood Racing Syndicate, which won this race in 2016 with Miss Sapphire. Mullins sends just one horse to Down Royal on St Stephen’s Day, the ex-Paul Nicholls trained Chavez in a Beginners’ Chase, and while he must be respected a better bet on the card looks to be Vaucelet in the Hunters’ Chase. The seven-year-old is a rising star of the Hunter Chase division and should have too much class for a group of older rivals who are probably all past their peak. The Kempton card on Monday 26 December featuring the King George VI Chase and the rescheduled Long Walk Hurdle is full of quality and with smaller fields than in Ireland it should be somewhat easier to pick a winner. In the big race itself at Kempton it’s not inconceivable that Envoi Allen could win the King George VI Chase at decent odds. Less than two years ago he had built up an impressive sequence of twelve races unbeaten, including two Grade 1 victories at the Cheltenham Festival. Things haven’t quite gone to script since, but he bounced back to form with a comfortable success at Down Royal last month and with trip, track and ground all again in his favour a big run is on the cards. Champ looks the most likely winner of the rescheduled Long Walk Hurdle and a repeat of his neck defeat of Paisley Park at Newbury last month should suffice. He was a little keen out in front for that seasonal debut and with that race under his belt should be able to settle better this time. The €200,000 Paddy Power Handicap Chase on Tuesday 27 December at Leopardstown is always one of the hottest betting heats of the week and offers great value for punters with enhanced each-way terms offered by all the leading bookmakers, including BoyleSports. A lightly-raced unexposed chaser is often the key to this contest and a prime candidate this time around is Mr Incredible. The seven-year-old son of Westerner is set to make his debut for Willie Mullins having left Henry de Bromhead under something of a cloud. He won twice from six starts for de Bromhead, but blotted his copybook on his last two starts, showing himself up as a decidedly tricky customer by refusing to race. If the Mullins camp have successfully ironed out Mr Incredible’s kinks he could be extremely well-treated off a mark of 140 and is worth an each-way play. The Welsh Grand National is also scheduled to take place on Tuesday 27 December and the Chepstow race is another that offers a good opportunity for each-way punters. Irish raider The Big Dog is among the leading fancies having already bagged the Munster National and Troytown Chase this season, and while it would be no surprise to see Peter Fahey’s charge bring up the big race treble, another horse very much catches the eye. The Rebecca Curtis trained Pats Fancy will prove difficult to beat if he can recapture his best form from last season. Twice a well-backed winner of Handicap Chases over this course, including on the corresponding card last year, Pats Fancy is a slick jumper and gives the impression that this marathon trip will bring out the best in him. His recent seasonal debut over hurdles should have blown away the cobwebs and a peak performance is anticipated. BoyleSports have a special offer over Christmas at Leopardstown whereby if your horse finishes second to the SP favourite, in any race with 5 runners or more, you get your stake refunded as a free bet up to €20. T&Cs apply. 18+. dunlewey.org Tips for Christmas: Lossiemouth 1.10pm Leopardstown Monday Coole Cherry 3.50pm Limerick Monday Vaucelet 2.33pm Down Royal Monday Champ 12.45pm Kempton Monday Envoi Allen 2.30pm Kempton Monday Mr Incredible 3.00pm Leopardstown Tuesday Pats Fancy 2.50pm Chepstow Tuesday
