Monday Racing Tips: Chasing breathes life into Oxygen

There's three meetings taking place in the UK on Monday as the run-up to Christmas Day begins.

Jumps action comes from Plumpton and Musselburgh in the afternoon, while later in the evening there's an all-weather offering from Wolverhampton.

Our Monday fancies include a promising chaser for the red-hot Venetia Williams stable at Plumpton.

13:10 Plumpton - Oxygen @ 7/4

Nothing special over hurdles last season after arriving in Britain from France, Oxygen went 0-4 in that code after joining the Venetia Williams team, but looks to be destined for much better things as a chaser following his summer wind operation.

The market spoke in his favour ahead of last month's fencing bow at Lingfield (2m4f, good to soft) and he produced a fine round of jumping before readily moving forward to account for his eight rivals.

The handicapper has bumped him up 9lb for that effort, but a mark of 111 should be within his reach based on that effort last time out.

He is fancied to account for fellow last-time-out scorers Hardy Fella and Pepe Le Moko en-route to doubling his tally for a yard with a recent strike-rate of 29% over the previous fortnight.

15:25 Musselburgh - One More Stroke @ 5/2

Donald McCain and Brian Hughes are a potent team in bumpers and One More Stroke gets the vote in the festive-feeling tote.co.uk A Partridge In A Pear Tree Open NH Flat Race which brings down the curtain at Musselburgh.

The gelded son of Derby winner Pour Moi was runner-up on both starts in Irish point-to-points back in February before moving to this yard.

The pair that beat him in those contests have won three bumpers between them since and One More Stroke should match them. He's undergone a wind operation ahead of this Rules debut and looks to have been found a good starting point.

19:00 Wolverhampton - Ippotheos @ 2/1

Ippotheos looked booked for a silver medal here nine days ago over 6f on his stable bow for Mick Appleby, as leader Completely Random looked sure to justify favouritism and score.

Typically for one joining this stable, Ippotheos found improvement and he fairly motored home in the straight, emerging from the pack and running down the leader inside the final furlong to score in that novice contest.

He moves into a nursery now off a mark of 79 and should continue to improve for his new connections, with the extra furlong on offer here a positive in his quest for back-to-back Wolverhampton wins.