Diamond Days heads to Exeter today for his third start over hurdles in the Class 4 Maiden Hurdle (14:08) over 2m½f.

Read our Raceday LIVE Preview below and join us ahead of the race for all the build-up and live updates from the track with the team and Diamond Days' lucky owners for the day across our social channels on X (@coral) and Instagram (@coralofficial).

Raceday LIVE Preview

It's not been long since Diamond Days was last in action, but unfortunately the foggy conditions at Chepstow on Coral Welsh Grand National Day meant that hardly any one aside from Brendan Powell [jockey] could actually know how he really performed.

The pair come home in 5th spot that day, which was a huge improvement from Diamond Days' first effort over hurdles at Fontwell in November when he had to be pulled up due to hanging badly around the bends. Following the race at Chepstow, trainer Joe Tizzard told us that he'd spoken to Brendan who said he was very happy with how Diamond Days jumped and travelled that day, so hopefully he can show more of that in today's race and take another step forward.

Joe and Brendan with Diamond Days at Venn Farm

Novice hurdlers of all levels of ability are always learning in their first few runs, if not their full first opening season, and that's exactly the process that our five-year-old son of Diamond Boy is going through right now. Joe has plenty of faith in him, and there will no doubt be plenty of opportunities for him to really progress once he gets his opening handicap mark.

13 rivals are set to lineup against Diamond Days this afternoon, which will be the biggest field he's competed in so far, so he certainly won't have it all his own way. The main objective will be to get him round safely and hope that he can once again jump well, but most importantly settle better and see him put his recent experience to good use.

Check out our latest mini-series, Racing Greats, as we sit down with Colin and Joe Tizzard to take a look back at the amazing careers of Cue Card, Elegant Escape, Native River and Thistlecrack

Raceday Message from Joe Tizzard

'We were a bit surprised Diamond Days got into this race, as there were plenty of entries in at the six day stage and we would have been eliminated if a full field of 16 had been declared, but fortunately only 14 were declared and we get a run.
 
After the disappointment of his hurdles debut at Fontwell, he ran much, much better at Chepstow at Christmas, not that we saw much of it through the fog! However, Brendan [Powell] reported that he jumped well on the whole, and showed only the slightest tendency to jump out to the right, helped by Brendan keeping him close to the inside with plenty of cover.
 
Nicky Henderson’s [As The Fella Says] looks the one to beat, but Exeter is a lovely galloping track that should suit him, and we’ll plan to ride him in a similar way to Chepstow, get him in among the runners and covered up. He’s still learning his trade, and after this run he’ll get his official handicap mark, and then we can hopefully have some fun with him.'

Chris Dixon, Racing TV Analyst, provides an exclusive preview of today's 14:08 Exeter

On the face of it Diamond Days ran his best race yet when beating over half the field home at Chepstow last time, but he was still well held and only ran to a modest level of form. Judging the manner of that effort wasn’t straightforward given the foggy conditions, so it will be interesting to see how he goes here on what will be his third run over hurdles and hopefully result in an opening handicap mark.

The pair to concentrate on are As The Fella Says and Saint Anopolino. The clear form pick is As The Fella Says who made an encouraging rules debut when second at Warwick in a time that suggests the form is solid enough to rely on. If reproducing that level he should be hard to beat, and with the prospect of improvement to come with that run behind him, As The Fella Says is expected to win. Saint Anopolino is next best on form and has the benefit of previous course form (second in a bumper here a year ago) but doesn’t have quite the same potential to progress and looks a less likely improver in any case, though the return to a right-handed track could be a plus.

Trainer and Jockey Statistics

Joe Tizzard has had a very solid start to the season with 40 winners from 227 runners so far, and that has him currently sitting in 10th spot in the Jump Trainers' Championship table. He's had one winner from eight runners in the past two weeks, with a further two coming home in second place.

Brendan Powell has hit the crossbar twice in the past two weeks from nine rides. The talented jockey has a good record and plenty of experience at Exeter including 18 winners from 135 rides.

Diamond Days' Owners for the Day

As winners of the Owner for the Day competition, 10 lucky Coral Racing Club members have been given the chance to enjoy an exclusive owners experience for Diamond Days' run at Exeter this afternoon.

Each winner, along with a guest of their choosing, will receive free entry to Exeter Racecourse, including exclusive access to Owners & Trainers areas. They'll have the opportunity to meet Diamond Days and the Joe Tizzard team, plus get to head into the parade ring before the race begins to be amongst all the other owners, trainers and jockeys. And last but by no means least, each winner will get to take home an equal 10% split of any prize money won by Diamond Days.

Prize Money

Today's Class 4 contest is worth £7,000 in total, with the winner set to scoop £3,696 for their lucky owners.

2nd: £1,701 | 3rd: £850 | 4th: £425 | 5th: £212

     EXETER 14:08 – LATEST ODDS     

We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 14:08 to watch Diamond Days' next run for the Coral Racing Club live on the Coral Sports app.