NOVICE WATCH

13:03 Lingfield

DONNIE BRASCO, trained by the bang in form Kim Bailey and ridden by Cieran Gethings, makes his seasonal debut and his debut over fences. A fine big horse, hurdles were never going to suit him. A winner of a Point to Point at Alnwick in January last year he moved to Kim Bailey's yard where he made his debut over hurdles in November. He finished a good third on soft ground behind the highly regarded The Big Breakaway and the Nicholls trained Blackjack Kentucky. Again, behind the Nicholls horse and Jepeck next time out he ran a promising race looking suited by a step up in trip. He tailed off on his final outing but that was due to losing a shoe.

He seems to have "chaser" written all over him so the fact that he was placed on his first three hurdles runs is very promising ahead of his chase debut. Although he won his point on good ground, he has shown a strong liking for softer conditions so this Heavy going at Lingfield shouldn't be a problem. As the season progresses he's likely to improve as he steps up in distance. This 2m4f trip perhaps wont be his optimum distance as he certainly has the makeup of a 3m+ chaser however first time out, on heavy ground should make this enough of a stamina test.

DONNIE BRASCO

14:33 Lingfield

Two promising novices make up the head of the market for this race, The Mick Preston and Annual Invictus. Both have great futures and it's hard to choose between them however at a bigger price we find ITSNOTWHATYOUTHINK. Trained by Nick Gifford and ridden by James Davies he finished second in a NHF race in only his second time on a racecourse. Runner up behind race favourite World Of Dreams in a contest where a lot of top yards were represented. Being a son of Westerner, he found the Gd/Soft going that day nowhere near soft enough.

He will be much better suited by the heavy ground at Lingfield and can make the frame.

ITSNOTWHATYOUTHINK

written by Stever Marriott