Winter Festival 1st & 2nd December Beginners Chase

Off time: 14:00 | Winning time: 3m 53.6s

All's Quiet^t¹²

Age: 7| Weight: 11-12| J: S O'Briain⁽⁷⁾| T: A McGuinness| D

40/1

Useful 116-rated handicap hurdler, made belated chasing bow at Roscommon this month and had made some progress before coming to grief at three out. Best watched for now.

Form: 60333F

Arvico Bleu³²

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: Rachael Blackmore| T: H De Bromhead

2/1

121-rated hurdler, shown real promise in two starts over fences so far, including runner-up at Listowel (2m1f, yielding to soft) last month. Of interest here for in-form stable.

Form: 550-642

Capital Force^t⁴⁹

Age: 7| Weight: 11-12| J: A E Lynch| T: H De Bromhead| OR: 125| D

6/1

Likely to be popular in the betting but the gelding appears to have had plenty of chances to get off the mark over the larger obstacles and is likely to bump in to at least 'one' again.

Form: 8/F5-343

Hardline^h¹⁷²

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: D N Russell| T: G Elliott| D

9/10

Graded winner over hurdles at this trip and rated 140 in that sphere. One to note for Gigginstown and Gordon Elliott on return to action tackling fences for the first time.

Form: 331138-

Stowaway Forever¹⁵⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: L P Dempsey| T: J P Dempsey

16/1

Fair over hurdles, set pace on chase bow at Down Royal in May (2m3½f, good) but made errors and unable to last home (third). Has scope for doing better over these obstacles back from summer break.

Form: 92240-3

Non-Runners

Speaker Connolly¹⁸³

Weight: 11-12| Age: 5

T: A Fleming J: Mr L P Gilligan

Forecasts

Hardline (9/10), Arvico Bleu (2/1), Capital Force (6/1), Speaker Connolly (12/1), Stowaway Forever (16/1), All's Quiet (40/1)

The opener may well go to Gigginstown but their duo are hard to separate. Hardline was the pick of these over hurdles and returns to action with Gordon Elliott's string firing. He's a graded winner over timber and much respected but ARVICO BLEU might get his measure. Henry De Bromhead's charge wasn't beaten far on chase bow at Listowel and the winner has given that form a boost. He can go one better. The selections stablemate Capital Force cannot be dismissed with any certainty.