Lingfield's Winter Million Festival gets underway on Saturday, all live on Sky Sports Racing after losing Friday's jumps card opener to frozen ground; the Winter Oaks features (3.10) on the valuable card
Friday 19 January 2024 16:49, UK
Jamie Lynch, our Senior Form Analyst, outlines his runners to keep onside on the opening day of Lingfield Park's big festival, live on Sky Sports Racing.
There's no "C" next to his name in the racecard denoting course winner but that's rather misrepresentative of Revolutionise who has a liking for Lingfield, placed four times at the track, including a second in this race last year behind handicap blot All The King's Men.
What was a 0-85 then is a 0-78 now, the lowest-level handicap Revolutionised has tackled in 18 months, and it's almost as long since Jason Hart last rode him, yet they get on like a proverbial house on fire, with four wins from just seven team-ups.
The presence of several sharp-enders like See You Boy, Sandy Paradise and Bowman will be music to the ears of Hart and Revolutionise who's at his best coming off a good gallop.
Everything is in place for a big run, including the stable form, Stuart Williams having sent out five winners and four seconds in the last fortnight.
The 'horses for courses' adage applies at Lingfield more than most tracks, just ask Forge Valley Lad whose last four successes have all come around here, primed for a fifth after two runs back from a break, both away from home.
In the absence of Jamie Spencer, the similarly stylish and sympathetic Daniel Muscutt has been handed the keys for the day, just the man for the job, as Forge Valley Lad probably needs the kid gloves treatment these days.
The stronger the pace the better for him, but it's not a deal-breaker, as he can conjure up a spurt for the finish whatever the gallop, the secret to his success on this circuit.
In one of my earliest forays as a racecourse reporter for Timeform, at Haydock in September 2002, I remember the frisson of excitement as it emerged that the 7f course record had been lowered, from an unusual source, in an ordinary handicap, by the 82-rated filly Lady Zonda.
Two decades on, Lady Zonda's daughter flashed the family speed in the Winter Oaks Trial with a finish that has to be seen to be believed, less who she beat and more how she beat them, including a final split of 10.71 secs.
A rise of 4 lb undersells her performance, her skill-set deadly for Lingfield, and though the opposition is different (bar Queen Regent) it's no better, the race way off the 105 ceiling.
The Crisfords did the Winter Trial-Oaks double last year with Al Agaila who was 10/11 despite an 11 lb rise, yet Oh So Grand is a much juicier price as favourite.
When it comes to Lingfield lovers, even Forge Valley Lad has to take a back seat to Smith, who has won no fewer than six times over this course and distance.
He turned eight on New Year's Day but it's too soon to be pensioning him off, possibly needing his two runs after an absence, now returning to a race in which he's got "previous" having finished first and third in the last two editions.
It's plain wrong that he's the rag of the field, with Probert up for the first time, and Lydia Richards has won with both her runners in 2024. At his odds, it's worth paying to find out if he's still got it.
Watch every race from the Winter Million Festival at Lingfield Park live on Sky Sports Racing on Saturday January 20 and Sunday January 21.
