The Going is described as "yielding"  there is no rain forecast and they have done some watering so I think we can assume a dead surface that may suit some more than others.

 

At bigger odds there isn't much that jumps off the page and at the top end of the market I don't get a sense that the likes of Jerandme, Max Flamingo and Rightplacerightime are particularly good value at the prices, so there are 5 of the 15 i specifically want to focus on.

 

Winter Escape was 3rd at 33/1 around 4 weeks ago in the big Leopardstwon Chase, that was a career best run and off a mark of 134 today it's going to be the most likely to win in my opinion of the top 3-4 in the market. In the same race Fan De Blues from the Mullins yard fell at halfway when not really in contention and its best run and win so far is at 2 miles and 2 furlongs at Galway off a mark of 135.

 

In the same race Gordon Elliott ran FAKIR D'ALENE who had won an Handicap Chase debut a while earlier off 132 but who struggled in the big race. Of the pair (with Mullins Fan De Blues) I just feel he has more scope and the more likely to bounce back in this easier race.

 

Bigger dangers at nice prices may be Ted Walh's BATCIO who has had a couple of runs at shorter, no doubt to blow away the cobwebs and to get him fully tuned up, but who won impressively at just short of this trip at Killarney last year. I think the trip here is ideal and the ground should not inconvenience this horse who represents good each way value.

 

The best each way value in the race IF the horse can return to any kind of form is Jessie Harringtons DISCORDANTLY, its generally in much deeper races than this and this is the lowest mark since its last win at Galway in October 2020, they go for cheek-pieces to just try to freshen and focus the horse and if it could find just a fraction of its ability could go very close here.

 

It's a  tricky little heat so I'll stake conservatively.