Saturday 6th January 2018

We were really pleased with Trigger Nichol’s 3^rd place at Bangor-on-Dee on Thursday. As mentioned a few times, Trigger Nichol won’t be seen to his best until next season. He’s a big horse that’s still growing and a staying chaser in the making. We’ll likely give Trigger Nichol another run then put him away for this time next year.

The weather conditions are rotten at the moment, it’s a typical wet January and not a very nice start to the New Year. Plenty of meetings are off due to water logged tracks. The fixtures that have survived, are taking place on heavy ground.

Betting becomes bit of a lottery, I’ll be mainly holding fire until conditions improve.

The big race of the day is the rearranged Coral Welsh National at 2:05. This is going to be a proper test, more horses will likely be pulled up than finish. My two against the field are:

Final Nudge should go well, he’s handles bad ground and stays strongly but does carry a fair chunk of weight. He’ll give you a run for your money at 12-1 EW.

My other pick would be Vintage Clouds also priced at 12-1. Trained by Sue Smith, Vintage Clouds has been in great form this season and has form in some strong races. He has the right profile for such a test.