Monday tips: Andy Stephens marks your card

Racing on a Monday can often lack a bit of quality but that’s not the case this week with last season’s Galmoy Hurdle winner, Rocky’s Diamond, making his chasing bow at Galway.

The five-year-old is odds-on but he’s up against some smart opposition and will be running over a trip short of his best, so I’ll be taking him on.

Racing TV will also be showing the Jump action at Perth, and I’ve got four fancies at that meeting. For those yearning the return of our top chasers and hurdlers, The Showcase  Meeting at Cheltenham is just 46 days away . . . 

Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore have yet to have a winner over Jumps since being granted a joint-training licence at the start of last month but, one way or another, I fancy they will put that right on Monday. 

The pair have an intriguing hurdling recruit in this modest novices’ event in the shape of Struth, who was a fair stayer on the Flat for Charlie Johnston at one time and was rated in the mid 90s last summer. 

He has developed a bit of a wayward/reluctant streak and is on a lengthy losing run, but he has the physique to take to this new discipline and his half-bother, Lord Warburton, is a winner over obstacles. 

Struth is the type who will either be galvanised by the new challenge, or maybe throw the towel in. At the likely prices, I’m happy to roll the dice because the short-priced favourite, Chortal, clearly has his limitations and must concede 5lb. 

Struth carries a wealth warning and so does this Russell/Scudamore challenger, who is the owner of a Timeform squiggle and clearly not easy to win with, as his record of two victories from 32 starts indicates.

However, he generally gives his running at this track (has won or been placed on nine of his 15 visits) and scored here on his penultimate start before looking sure to follow up over course and distance last time, only to curl up close home and get nabbed by King Roly close home, with Lightkeeper and Byron Hill well adrift. The quartet all meet again.

With the benefit of hindsight, hitting the front two out gave Garde Des Champs plenty of time to wriggle out of things, to the chagrin of those who backed him down to 1.06 in-running on Betfair.

I imagine Alan Doyle will wait a little longer this time before inviting his partner to put his stamp on things. He’s up against more or less the same opposition, with the exception being Frisby, a maiden hurdler who will be making his chasing bow.

Wasdell Dundalk has won this contest for the past two years and top weight may not prevent him completing the hat-trick. 

He’s only 3lb higher in the ratings than when successful 12 months ago, and his four wins at the track have all been achieved over this 3m trip at about this time of the year. 

I would not be worried that he pulled up at Uttoxeter when last in action six weeks ago, as he had run poorly at that venue on his only other visit and, in addition, was said to have lost his action. The ten-year-old is now back at his happy hunting ground after a short break, with Danny McMenamin seeking a sixth success on him. 

My final fancy on the card is another Russell/Scudamore challenger in the shape of Spit Spot. 

This mare has finished a close third in each of her previous three starts at Perth, including last time when  beaten under a length when stepping up to 2m 4f for the first time. 

She stayed on stoutly that day and now has another three furlongs to devour. The way she kept on last time suggests the extra yardage will play to the strengths of a horse who, after all, was a stayer on the Flat. 

Themanintheboots has slipped to a handy mark but that reflects a dip in his fortunes, so another Irish raider, the consistent Georgia Celena, may pose the main threat. 

This is a cracking early-season novices’ chase with last season’s Galmoy Hurdle winner, Rocky’s Diamond, the headline act. 

He followed up that Gowran triumph with a fourth in the Stayers’ Hurdle and is clearly a bright prospect for fences, but 2m 2f will surely be on the sharp side for him after 130 days off, plus he is going to be amateur ridden. 

Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Gavin Cromwell and Henry De Bromhead are all represented with and Waterford Whispers, trained by the last-named, making most appeal. 

Things have not gone to plan for him since he chased home Better Days Ahead in the 2024 Martin Pipe, having tanked through the race, but it says plenty for his potential that he went off 6-1 for the Grade One Faugheen Novice Chase at the end of last year. He trailed home last of seven, but clearly didn’t give his running and I’m hopeful he can still hit the heights in this sphere.