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Timeform Daily View | Sunday preview and tips
Tony McFadden provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Sunday.
Three points of interest
Joseph O'Brien holds key to valuable sales race
There are some valuable prizes on offer at Naas's final Flat meeting of the season as there are a couple of listed races worth €50,000 apiece, a premier handicap with prize money of €100,000 and an EBF auction series final with €120,000 up for grabs.
The auction series final (14:15), which is only open to two-year-olds who were sold for 72,000 guineas or less at a designated sale, has unsurprisingly drawn a maximum field given the prize money on offer.
Joseph O'Brien is having a successful campaign with his two-year-olds this season - his 32 winners from 201 runners prior to Saturday returned a level-stake profit of £33.59 - and he is responsible for the top-rated contender in this contest, Sigh No More, while his other challenger, Dignam, is one of a trio only 1 lb behind the standard-setter on Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings.
Sigh No More has been set a couple of stiff tasks of late in Group 3s at the Curragh, but the form she showed when winning a race in this series at Roscommon in August gives her solid claims. Dignam, the mount of Dylan Browne McMonagle, also struggled to make an impact in Group 3 company last time but had previously won a race in this series at Tipperary and is respected on that form.
Lump Sum looks interesting on handicap debut
Sam Thomas had no runners in the period between Sandown's end-of-season fixture in April and Chepstow's recent jumps season opener, but he returned with a bang as his first runner back, Palacio, landed a novice hurdle at 20/1 on Friday.
Thomas and Palacio's owner Dai Walters team up again in the feature race at Ffos Las on Sunday, the Welsh Champion Hurdle (15:55), with two strong contenders in Steel Ally and Lump Sum.
Steel Ally developed into a useful handicap hurdler last season, going close in a competitive race at Newbury before signing off with a good third in a valuable event at Sandown.
Steel Ally is respected on those pieces of form, though stablemate Lump Sum could have a slight class edge having been deemed worthy of a crack at the Grade 1 Top Novices' Hurdle at Aintree when last seen. He was only fifth there, but had been an emphatic winner of the Grade 2 Dovecote Novices' Hurdle at Kempton on his previous start, registering his third win of the campaign in the process, and it's possible an opening handicap mark of 134 could underestimate him.
Return of the Mac
Johnny Mac showed marked improvement after joining Matt Sheppard from Tom Gretton last season, winning all three starts for his new stable and advancing his Timeform rating by the best part of 30 lb.
That remarkable progress was enough to earn Johnny Mac a podium position in the biggest improver category in Timeform's end-of-season jumps awards, and he still has the Timeform 'small p' to highlight that he is capable of even better for this yard.
Johnny Mac, who also impressed with his attitude last season, makes his return in the two-mile handicap chase (17:05) at Ffos Las on Sunday and looks like a big player.
Tip of the Day
Hand Over Fist - 16:55 Cork
Flags: Horse In Focus, Top-Rated
Hand Over Fist relished the step up to an extended three miles when winning on his first start in a handicap chase at Kilbeggan in August, and he was still in front and finding for pressure when coming down two out at Downpatrick last month. He would have finished a close second at worst had he completed and he showed enough to suggest that he remains well handicapped following an 8 lb rise in the weights for his Kilbeggan success. He still has the Timeform 'small p' to show he's open to improvement in this sphere and he should give another good account from the same mark he competed off at Downpatrick.
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