Lingfield Winter Million: Your essential guide to the inaugural three-day festival, live on Sky Sports Racing
A three-day feast of jumps and flat racing from Lingfield is headlined by the £150,000 Fleur De Lys Chase; the £100,000 Sovereign Handicap Hurdle is the Day One feature with the £100,000 Coral Winter Oaks taking place on Saturday; watch every race on Sky Sports Racing
Tuesday 18 January 2022 11:44, UK
The Lingfield Winter Million festival promises to be an excellent three-day meeting with both jumping and flat stars on show and £1m in prize money to be won.
A superb flat card - headlined by the £100,000 Winter Oaks - is sandwiched between two high-quality jumping cards, with every race live on Sky Sports Racing from January 21-23.
The Day One feature is the £100,000 Sovereign Handicap Hurdle, with Grade One winner Metier looking a possible contender for the Harry Fry team.
On the concluding day, the inaugural £150,000 Fleur De Lys Chase could be an outstanding race with no less than four Grade One winners still entered at this stage, including popular grey Bristol De Mai.
- Shishkin and Energumene clash at Ascot remains on
- Henderson hoping to keep McGrath after retiring from saddle
Day One - Friday
The meeting is opened up with a decent Mares' Novices' Hurdle (12:50), with recent Listed scorer Rainyday Woman likely to take all the beating for the Paul Nicholls team.
Brave Seasca looks to be on the upgrade and could be a lively contender in the 1:50, a £50,000 two-mile handicap chase, having landed the odds and lowering the colours of Grand Annual winner Sky Pirate at Warwick last weekend.
Jumping favourites such as Emitom and On The Blind Side feature in the Winter Million Hurdle at 2:25, while the Sovereign Handicap Hurdle at 3:35 looks to be incredibly competitive at this stage.
Harry Fry's Metier is expected to line up alongside veteran Hunter's Call for Olly Murphy as well as Garry Clermont (Jonjo O'Neill) and Gowel Road (Nigel Twiston-Davies)
Day Two - Saturday
A standout All-Weather card gets under way at 12:45, but it is the £50,000 Betway Handicap at 1:20 that looks of particular interest, with 101-rated Living Legend making his seasonal reappearance for Mark and Charlie Johnston.
Some promising youngsters will go head to head in the novice stakes at 3:05, including My Mirage who makes his third start in the Bjorn Nielsen colours, made famous by star stayer Stradivarius.
The £100,000 feature Coral Winter Oaks (3:40) pits some established mares against unexposed rivals, with Grade Three-placed Virgin Snow for the Ed Dunlop team bidding to defy top weight and see off the likes of Umm Hurair and Nuble, who both come into this race having won their last three races.
Day Three - Sunday
The concluding day also has the most prize money on offer and as a result has been backed with plenty of decent field sizes.
The opening £40,000 bumper (12:50) has 21 entries at this stage, although one of the quality races on the card will have a maximum of 10 runners in the Winter Million Novices' Chase at 1:50.
Grade One form will be put to the test as War Lord (Colin Tizzard), Minella Drama (Donald McCain) and Il Ridoto (Paul Nicholls) all renew their rivalry after running behind Edwardstone in the Henry VII Novices' Chase, with recent Ascot scorer Faivoir looking of interest for the Dan Skelton team.
The £100,000 hurdle over two miles and four furlongs at 2:25 looks a real treat, with Grade One winner Dashel Drasher entered alongside the likes of Goshen, Darver Star, Brewin'upastorm and the unbeaten Saint Felicien for Gordon Elliott.
Bristol De Mai will bid to get back to his best in the feature £150,000 Fleur De Lys Chase, ran over two miles and six furlongs.
He faces stiff opposition in the shape of Irish raider Fakir D'oudairies for Joseph O'Brien as well as Fanion D'Estruval for the in-form Venetia Williams team and the enigmatic Master Tommytucker (Paul Nicholls)
The Surrey National (3:35) has also been added to the Winter Million card, with Welsh Grand National runner-up The Two Amigos and the progressive Move The Chains (Gary Moore) both entered at the five-day stage.
