Grade One races at Leopardstown

we hope you had a pleasant and profitable Christmas, though there were some shock results and winners were not always easy to find. They will not be easy to find today again, although there are as usual small fields in some of the top races.
However there are 10 runners declared for Leopardstown´s Lexus Chase over 3 miles at 15.55 CET, undoubtedly the best race of the day. They include the first two home in the latest Cheltenham Gold Cup - Bobs Worth (Nicky Henderson/ Barry Geraghty) and Sir Des Champs (Willie Mullins/ Davy Russell), andf they should Play aleading role here as well. Bobs Worth was very disappointing on his seasonal debut and with the Henderson stable still not firing on all fronts, we prefer Sir des Champs, who was a very close fourth in this last year in one of the best finishes of the season. He finished inches behind First Lieutenant (Mouse Morris/ David Casey), so he must also enter calculations, as well as Unioniste (Paul Nicholls/ Daryl Jacob), who are in tremendous form; however this one is only 5 and may not yet be ready for the hurly-burly of these championship races. Mullins saddles 2 more runners, with Rubi Ball (Ruby Walsh) clearly the more interesting; previously trained in France, he had excellent form in staying races at Paul and Auteuil, but we feel that he will not have the speed to beat the above.mentioned over this CD.
There are only 5 runners in the Christmas Hurdle over 3 miles at 14.50, which looks a match between Solwhit (Charlie Byrnes/ Paul Carberry) and last year´s runner-up Zaidpour (Mullins/ Walsh). After spending years unavailaingly chasing Hurricane Fly over shorter distances, Solwhit was switched to this distance last spring with excellent results - winning the top staying races at Cheltenham and Aintree and running second in the French Champion Hurdle, with Zaidpour well back in third. He has not run since, but if he is in form, he should again beat Zaidpour, who however has the benefit of a recent race, when runner-up to the smart Jezki -no disgrace there.
later: SOLWHIT NON-RUNNER in the Christmas Hurdle!! this leaves Zaidpour with a simple chance in our opinion.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Sure Reef - Akorakor - Riverside City
2. Race: Un Beau Roman - Empire Of Dirt - Living Next Door
3. Race: Inis Meain - Leah Claire - Pires
4. Race: Zaidpour - Rule The World - Mala Beach
5. Race: Djakadam - Minsk - Si C`Etait Vrai
6. Race: Bobs Worth - Sir Des Champs - First Lieutenant
7. Race: Silver Concorde - On Your Eoin - King Leon