Christmas with Racetrack Wiseguy

2021 was retrieved at the weekend thanks to Corals free-to-enter football game and me, at long last, landing the cash. Newcastle v. Man City was a bit of a gimme and then one eventually gets first goalscorer, corners and cards right. It had been an unsuccessful autumn but we can now record a plus of some sort for the year, have a go at the Christmas racing and hopefully carry forward some ammunition to start 2022 with. Christmas has been a watching brief in recent years with having to tread so carefully on the comeback trail last year and sticking with the diminishing profit I had the year before but we can safely have a go this year.

The King George Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day is second only to the Cheltenham Gold Cup in prestige. One needs to believe that Gold Cup winners are going to keep winning and Minella Indo returned without doing so, and so is a slightly suspect favourite. Kempton is entirely the opposite sort of track to Cheltenham and by now one should know that one takes on Frodon at one's peril. Thus, with the likes of Lostintranslation and Fiddlerontheroof resurgent and Clan des Obeaux still around, and Chantry House still improving, it is a cracking renewal. It might come down to the top Sports Personalities, Rachael and Bryony, but Frodon by now is all but the new Desert Orchid and is a tentative pick.

Earlier, Bravesmansgame has jumped like a dream so far and possibly only has one to beat. He can be expected to arrive at Cheltenham, or maybe Aintree, unbeaten to take on the sterner opposition from Ireland.

On Monday, Secret Reprieve still only has bottom weight in the Welsh National and so has a favourite's  chance of showing what a good thing he would have been last year had he got in. The long lay off need not be a worry since this would have been a long term target.

But it's the Mathieson Hurdle at Lepoardstown on 29th that we can trust with proper money. Sharjah, pictured, is a very consistent performer in top class hurdle races and with no Honeysuckle in opposition, only has to reproduce known form for even money to look more like an investment than a bet.

However  uch one has to spend, half can go on Sharjah and the other half can mix up the four selections in doubles, trebles and the optimistic four-timer.

Best of luck.