Nigel Twiston-Davies’ William Hill Blog: A Lightning Flash at Lingfield

I’m pleased to report that Broadway Boy is fine after his disappointing run in the Hampton at Warwick. We have trach-washed him this week, and the result wasn’t good, so we’ve found the reason for his lacklustre run. He’s far from a spent horse and he’s much better than he showed that day. We’ll get him back on track for Cheltenham in March.

In the meantime, the weather has yielded enough to allow us some racing at Lingfield on Sunday, where we have a few runners.

Lingfield, Sunday

Opera King, Lightning Flash, and Habibi all run in the two-mile Winter Million bumper (12.05pm), which is worth £40,000, hence we’ve so many runners in it! It’d be a very nice race to win, though none of these have done very much yet.

Lightning Flash won his first race but wasn’t right the next time out. He’s back to himself now, so should be competitive.

Habibi was third in a mares’ bumper last time but ran a little too freely that day, so I hope that she’ll settle down and concentrate a bit better.

Opera King has run nicely in his two starts to date, so all three really could be in with a chance.

Then there’s Manimole in the two-mile mares’ novices’ hurdle (12.40pm). She’s done absolutely nothing wrong this season, she’s been superb and has won her last two starts. This will be a step up as she carries top weight, but she doesn’t know how to run a bad race and is quite exciting. She’s got a wonderful attitude to her work and is certainly one to take note of moving forward.

Master Chewy and Matata are next in the two-mile Grade 2 Lightning Novices’ Chase (1.15pm). Master Chewy was brilliant last time, winning the Wayward Lad at Kempton, so why shouldn’t he be again? Matata, similarly, has had a terrific season and was runner-up by just a length at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, giving nearly a stone to the winner.

This will be a hot race, everyone’s got eachother to beat. Hopefully my two will show the others what they’ve got.

Master Chewy should, if everything goes to plan, be heading straight for the Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival after this. He’s currently at quite long odds, so could be a bit of a surprise that day.

Finally, we have Gowel Road in the 2m7f handicap hurdle (2.25pm). He wasn’t beaten far in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot last time, so I think we should have another good chance with him too. He’s another who will hopefully be heading to Cheltenham, if he can get qualified for the Pertemps Final.