Solomn Grundy To Win PP Chase For De Bromhead?

There were surprises aplenty on the opening day of the hectic Christmas racing period and the bookmakers certainly came out on top.

With more Grade 1 action and a few very competitive handicaps down for the decision it could be another good day for the layers today although one horse could be thrown in in the Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown.

De Bromhead could provide fairytale story for Morgan
Hugh Morgan is not a jockey whose name punters will be overly familiar with having had just three winners but today he might just win one of the most sought after prizes in Irish racing.

Henry de Bromhead has entrusted the faith of his conditional to claim 7lbs off Solomn Gundy in the Paddy Power Chase and on a line of form with De Name Escapes Me he could look very well in indeed.

De Name Escapes Me was far more comfortable a winner than the half length margin at Navan suggested but he has got a 14lbs penalty for that effort to make life tougher for him in the Paddy Power today.

Solomn Grundy himself got a rise of 7lbs for that Navan effort but because the weights for this race were already out he still runs off 129 and that means that not only is he 7lbs well in for this race but he is a massive 21lbs better off with De Name Escapes Me.

With just 9st10lbs to carry he is in receipt of a good bit of weight all around and the Navan effort was his first for de Bromhead and it was over 2m4f. This three mile trip might even bring about more improvement for the ex-Neil Mulholland trained runner as he was a winner over an extended 2m7f at Ffos Las so he just looks to tick a lot of boxes.

Blue Thursday for Elliott and Codd
Gordon Elliott was expected to land a Grade 1 novice chase on St Stephen’s Day and he duly obliged but probably not the Grade 1 novice chase we were expecting as Mengli Khan was turned over in Leopardstown but Hardline caused an upset to beat Getabird in Limerick.

Elliott will be represented in Chepstow today by Folsom Blue, a horse who was also targeted at this race last year but missed out due to a small setback.

Folsom Blue has gone up in the ratings since then, mainly for winning the BoyleSports Grand National Trial at Punchestown and the 11-year-old also nearly won the BoyleSports Irish Grand National itself but for a luckless passage in the closing stages of that race.

A nice prep run at Haydock over hurdles should have left him spot on for this and with a nice racing weight of 11st2lbs he looks like a horse who could give a very good account of himself in the Welsh National.

A dour stayer, this race should see him come into his own in the closing stages and be staying on better than most with Jamie Codd a notable booking on a busy day. 8/1 looks worthy of a small investment.