Raceday LIVE – Diamond Days
Lingfield,
Wed 29 Jan 2025 15:24
Related horse(s):
Diamond Days
Diamond Days heads to Lingfield today for his handicap debut in the Class 5 Handicap Hurdle (14:08) over two miles.
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
Diamond Days makes his handicap debut this afternoon at Lingfield, and he goes off a mark of 90 following the first three runs over hurdles of his career. He made a low key start under rules at Joe Tizzard's local track of Wincanton, finishing last of the eight runners of the day in a bumper over 1m7f that was won by another Joe Tizzard-trained runner, Tennessee Tango.
He was back out the following month for his hurdling debut at Fontwell, where he struggled quite badly with the sharp bends at the West Sussex track, eventually pulling up before the penultimate flight. After that run, the vet was doing a regular checkup on Diamond Days when he found that he had a trapped nerve, which goes some way to explaining his wayward run at Fontwell, and our gelding was set for a spell on the sidelines as he recovered from the slight injury.
It proved to be the case, as Diamond Days ran a far better race on Coral Welsh Grand National Day at Chepstow the following month. Despite the low visibility in the fog, it appeared that Diamond Days enjoyed his race a lot more that day, as he came home in fifth of eleven clear of several more fancied rivals on the day. Jockey, Brendan Powell, who rides him again today, echoed those thoughts, as he could feel that Diamond Days was travelling far better than he had on his previous effort, despite the inclement weather.
In his final run before getting a mark, Diamond Days made his way to Exeter and continued to show improvement in his form. He finished seventh of 14 runners that day but spent most of the run in touch with the leaders before putting in some novicey jumps towards the end of the contest, which ultimately put him out of contention. Brendan Powell was again onboard that day and gave him a relatively easy time following that and made sure he made it to the line.
WATCH: Brendan Powell reflects on Diamond Days' run at Exeter
He was awarded an opening mark of 90 for his exploits, which is certainly workable and it means that he'll be running in suitable company from here on out. He's been working well at home and is the team at Venn Farm are continuing to get improvement out of him, as he is still only learning at this early stage in his career.
WATCH: Diamond Days schools at home ahead of The Italian Fox
Following the recent storm that has hit the UK, the ground at Lingfield today is set to be quite testing and will be Soft. Culligran and Inion Tiogair are the only runners in the field that have been victorious before, both doing so over today's distance, and will likely be the main dangers to Diamond Days' chances of getting on the board.
Raceday Message from Joe Tizzard
'Apart from his strange run at Fontwell, we’ve been very happy with Diamond Days’ other three runs, and based on what we’ve seen, an opening handicap mark of 90 looks about fair, although we’ll have a better idea of that after this race!
We were wondering whether or not to run him in soft ground at Lingfield, as we didn’t want to give him an overly testing time on his handicap debut, but the reality is he went through it well enough at Chepstow and Exeter, and there’s no reason to think he won’t handle it as well as any of these.
He also schooled really well earlier in the week, so that made up our minds for us. We were really happy with how he went, and whatever went wrong at Fontwell, we’ve seen no signs of it since. We will look to ride him with a bit of cover again here, hopefully Brendan [Powell] can sit in the first four or five, as you don’t want to be making up ground in soft conditions.
Handicapping was always going to be this fellow’s thing, so having got him his mark, this is where the fun will hopefully begin on what I know is a big day for the club.'
Chris Dixon, Racing TV Analyst, breaks down today's 15:15 at Lingfield and rates Diamond Days' chances in the contest and who his main rivals are likely to be
Diamond Days hasn’t really shown a great deal so far but the switch to handicap company for the first time offers some hope for improvement. He will need to improve though as the handicapper hasn’t taken much of a chance with an opening mark of 90 based on his form to this point. His last two runs haven’t been completely devoid of encouragement though and this run in a pretty weak race should reveal more about him.
Just Aidan and Culligran are two of the more in-form horses in the line up having each hit the frame in big fields last time and look the most obvious pair on form. Culligran is pretty consistent and still unexposed so should go well with the assistance of jockey’s championship leader Sean Bowen in the saddle for the first time, though she might ideally want a stronger pace than looks likely here and a more testing surface than previously encountered is an unknown. Just Aidan stays further and will enjoy the conditions while he could be better positioned if ridden in the same manner as at Wincanton last time, though his form doesn’t look quite as solid.
There are other potential improvers in the field as well, not least Out Out who hasn’t shown much over hurdles but was second in a bumper on his debut in October and could be well-treated tackling a handicap for the first time.
Trainer and Jockey Statistics
Joe Tizzard has a strike-rate of 21% in the last fortnight, posting four winners from 19 runners, including two at Wincanton yesterday. Since Joe Tizzard took the reins from Colin at their Dorset base, he's sent 21 horses to Lingfield and has come back with five winners, with one from four coming this season.
Brendan Powell continues his partnership with Diamond Days this afternoon, having ridden him on all of his starts over hurdles thus far in his career. His two winners in the last fortnight were the two that Joe Tizzard had yesterday, bringing his total for the season to 34. In total, he's ridden 90 winners for Joe Tizzard, who uses him as his stable jockey, with 28 of those coming this season.
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 Lingfield this afternoon.
Each winner, along with a guest of their choosing, will receive free entry to Lingfield 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 £6,150 in total, with the winner set to scoop £3,247 for their lucky owners.
2nd: £1,494 | 3rd: £747 | 4th: £373 | 5th: £186
LINGFIELD 15:15 – LATEST ODDS
We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 15:15 to watch Diamond Days' hurdling debut for the Coral Racing Club live on the Coral Sports app.
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
Diamond Days makes his handicap debut this afternoon at Lingfield, and he goes off a mark of 90 following the first three runs over hurdles of his career. He made a low key start under rules at Joe Tizzard's local track of Wincanton, finishing last of the eight runners of the day in a bumper over 1m7f that was won by another Joe Tizzard-trained runner, Tennessee Tango.
He was back out the following month for his hurdling debut at Fontwell, where he struggled quite badly with the sharp bends at the West Sussex track, eventually pulling up before the penultimate flight. After that run, the vet was doing a regular checkup on Diamond Days when he found that he had a trapped nerve, which goes some way to explaining his wayward run at Fontwell, and our gelding was set for a spell on the sidelines as he recovered from the slight injury.
It proved to be the case, as Diamond Days ran a far better race on Coral Welsh Grand National Day at Chepstow the following month. Despite the low visibility in the fog, it appeared that Diamond Days enjoyed his race a lot more that day, as he came home in fifth of eleven clear of several more fancied rivals on the day. Jockey, Brendan Powell, who rides him again today, echoed those thoughts, as he could feel that Diamond Days was travelling far better than he had on his previous effort, despite the inclement weather.
In his final run before getting a mark, Diamond Days made his way to Exeter and continued to show improvement in his form. He finished seventh of 14 runners that day but spent most of the run in touch with the leaders before putting in some novicey jumps towards the end of the contest, which ultimately put him out of contention. Brendan Powell was again onboard that day and gave him a relatively easy time following that and made sure he made it to the line.
WATCH: Brendan Powell reflects on Diamond Days' run at Exeter
WATCH: Diamond Days schools at home ahead of The Italian Fox
Raceday Message from Joe Tizzard
'Apart from his strange run at Fontwell, we’ve been very happy with Diamond Days’ other three runs, and based on what we’ve seen, an opening handicap mark of 90 looks about fair, although we’ll have a better idea of that after this race!
We were wondering whether or not to run him in soft ground at Lingfield, as we didn’t want to give him an overly testing time on his handicap debut, but the reality is he went through it well enough at Chepstow and Exeter, and there’s no reason to think he won’t handle it as well as any of these.
He also schooled really well earlier in the week, so that made up our minds for us. We were really happy with how he went, and whatever went wrong at Fontwell, we’ve seen no signs of it since. We will look to ride him with a bit of cover again here, hopefully Brendan [Powell] can sit in the first four or five, as you don’t want to be making up ground in soft conditions.
Handicapping was always going to be this fellow’s thing, so having got him his mark, this is where the fun will hopefully begin on what I know is a big day for the club.'
Chris Dixon, Racing TV Analyst, breaks down today's 15:15 at Lingfield and rates Diamond Days' chances in the contest and who his main rivals are likely to be
Diamond Days hasn’t really shown a great deal so far but the switch to handicap company for the first time offers some hope for improvement. He will need to improve though as the handicapper hasn’t taken much of a chance with an opening mark of 90 based on his form to this point. His last two runs haven’t been completely devoid of encouragement though and this run in a pretty weak race should reveal more about him.
Just Aidan and Culligran are two of the more in-form horses in the line up having each hit the frame in big fields last time and look the most obvious pair on form. Culligran is pretty consistent and still unexposed so should go well with the assistance of jockey’s championship leader Sean Bowen in the saddle for the first time, though she might ideally want a stronger pace than looks likely here and a more testing surface than previously encountered is an unknown. Just Aidan stays further and will enjoy the conditions while he could be better positioned if ridden in the same manner as at Wincanton last time, though his form doesn’t look quite as solid.
There are other potential improvers in the field as well, not least Out Out who hasn’t shown much over hurdles but was second in a bumper on his debut in October and could be well-treated tackling a handicap for the first time.
Trainer and Jockey Statistics
Joe Tizzard has a strike-rate of 21% in the last fortnight, posting four winners from 19 runners, including two at Wincanton yesterday. Since Joe Tizzard took the reins from Colin at their Dorset base, he's sent 21 horses to Lingfield and has come back with five winners, with one from four coming this season.
Brendan Powell continues his partnership with Diamond Days this afternoon, having ridden him on all of his starts over hurdles thus far in his career. His two winners in the last fortnight were the two that Joe Tizzard had yesterday, bringing his total for the season to 34. In total, he's ridden 90 winners for Joe Tizzard, who uses him as his stable jockey, with 28 of those coming this season.
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 Lingfield this afternoon.
Each winner, along with a guest of their choosing, will receive free entry to Lingfield 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 £6,150 in total, with the winner set to scoop £3,247 for their lucky owners.
2nd: £1,494 | 3rd: £747 | 4th: £373 | 5th: £186
LINGFIELD 15:15 – LATEST ODDS
We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 15:15 to watch Diamond Days' hurdling debut for the Coral Racing Club live on the Coral Sports app.
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