Good morning all,

It might have snowed, and it may have been colder than snowman's backside, but that didn't stop us having a good day at Leicester yesterday and better still, I won a few quid.

There's a couple for the future on the main piece and a recap of the day, plus a selection from Lingfield later on. 

Now we're living on the south-east east side of Nottingham, a trip to Leicester is an easy one down the A46. We arrived there around 40 minutes before the first and I did fear for the bookmakers, as the crowd looked rather sparse. Fair to say that not many more followed us in, and it was no understatement to say there was plenty f room around the paddock.

They came out for the first and started to parade. Best of the paddock for me was Clondaw Anchor, who was very fit and looks every inch a classy chaser for the future. I'll be very interested in him next year. But not that far behind was The Captain's Inn, who wasn't as big as a few of these and has a bit of growing to do, but he too looked very fit for this.

Chef D'Equipe looked fine but did take a bit of a hold down to the start. Credit to David Maxwell, who has improved this season, for not letting him go over the top. I was unimpressed by Laughing Luis , quite plain looking, and he's clearly not one of the stars at Seven Barrows. Mon Port should make a chaser but isn't one for the mortgage in any race. Fortescue towered over most of these and you'd say will make a nice chaser, but sadly he appears to hate the idea of racing at present and was beaten after half a mile.

Jen's Boy is merely okay, although I did think he needed the run after almost nine months off, so may do a bit better. Although it must be said his hurdling technique was poor. Mr Palmtree is small and nothing to write home about, Roccowithlove is nice enough but needs a lot of time, Super Mac is your typical McCain stock and Imperial Acolyte hardly jumped out at me either.

So I had two bets – a win one on Clondaw Anchor and an e/w one on The Captains Table. And thanks to Daryl Jacob working out where the best of the ground was (and David Maxwell doing the opposite) The Captains Inn proved too good for them in the latter stages. I would suggest both the front two have run their races – indeed, given Chef D'Eqiupe has been through the mud up the inside all the way, I'd mark his effort up, but its clear The Captains Table is useful. Afterwards it was revealed he had scoped dirty after a disappointing run last time so has an excuse, and this looked more like it. As an aside, after an awful December, Ben Pauling is really hitting stride now and may well have the odd big-priced winner with horses that have been disappointing this winter. Keep an eye out….

The only things to say about the novice chase that followed were that Burbank's jumping didn't hold up – he may do better once going up in trip – and that the 33-1 outsider of three The Captain didn't look out of place against the other two. He's still got a bit of growing to do, but is a rangy sort that is easy on the eye and wasn't disgraced here. There might be a little handicap to be won with him.

A mixed bunch for the Mares Novices Hurdle and having already backed Rollercoaster I was keen to see her in the paddock. She looked fine and is coming along well physically but you'd be stretching it to say she was one of the best in the paddock. Maybe fourth best, so she's more or less run as I expected on looks. I'll keep her in my tracker for the time being, with handicaps in mind.

The White Mouse really is a cracking horse to look at, she has a bit of class about her and walks really well. She ought to make a chaser on looks and it'll be interesting to see if connections go down that route. A combination of the trip being too short, and having to give away a 6lb penalty to another improver in Dame Du Soir proved her undoing here, but she will win plenty more. The Listed Mares race at Cheltenham in April over 2m4f could be ideal.

Dame Du Soir herself looked very well, she's an imposing type that will also want a fence in time. A real galloper, she was given an easy time up front and made the most of it.

Darling Du Large reminded me of another Tom George horse, the name of which I couldn't remember yesterday and still can't today. It'll come to me. Green as grass, she looked very much in need of this run and will improve plenty as time goes on. The right horses have finished 1-2-3 on looks and this could be a decent race.

The rest were a pretty motley lot – Jessica Rabbit is small and seems to have little ability or scope, Pure Affection was not much bigger and far too keen for her own good. Bonbonierre was described as “scratty” by one paddock judge and it was hard to disagree, there's very little of her and she's very lean. See Forever, who was fourth, only got an “okay” from me but that was more than most of them got, to be fair.

Anyway, on to today and with both jumps fixtures falling to the cold weather (won't be the last this week, I'd say) the All-Weather comes to the rescue. I'm going to try a small e/w bet on Sea's Aria in the 3.10 – he's no win machine but that goes for most of these, and with favourite Top Rock Talula having a bit to prove at this trip, this might be an open race. Sea's Aria is slow but stays, and acts perfectly well at Lingfield, and with a few hold-up horses in the race, ought to be ridden prominently here. In reasonable form at present and could reward e/w support at a price.

Good luck with all your bets today,

David.