NAP of the Day: Lump Sum to pay off for Thomas

There are four UK and Irish meetings on the schedule on Sunday afternoon, with a nice balance of quality racing on the Flat and over jumps. 

They go on the level at Goodwood and Naas, while jumps fare is at Cork and Ffos Las.  The two big meetings in Wales this weekend are a sure sign that National Hunt racing is emerging from its summer recess and Sunday’s card is headlined by the Welsh Champion Hurdle at 15:55 where home rule looks the way to go. 

Handler Sam Thomas has built a reputation in his fledgling career as a good target trainer and this Welsh Champion Hurdle is likely to be a contest he has had marked on the calendar for a while, as his string return from their summer break. 

The Gold Cup-winning jockey has based himself at The Hollies on the outskirts of Cardiff and targeting these major Welsh races is key. 

He fires two at the target today, with Steely Ally accompanying LUMP SUM. 

Sam Twiston-Davies is on the former, a Wincanton novice winner in February and a good third in the Novices' Championship Final Handicap Hurdle at Sandown (2m, good) on his final start in April. 

He isn't passed over in haste but Lump Sum had a likeable profile last season over timber too. 

He won three of his first four over hurdles, including coasting home over course and distance in November on soft ground on his seasonal/hurdles bow. 

His only defeat in that sequence saw him finishing second behind the well-touted Nicky Henderson inmate Jeriko Du Reponet at Doncaster in a Grade 2 novices' event in January. 

Lump Sum rebounded to win the Grade 2 Dovecote Novices' Hurdle at Kempton the following month and he signed off his season with a respectable outing in the Grade 1 Top Novices' Hurdle at Aintree's Grand National meeting behind some superb talents. 

His ability under these testing conditions is more proven than some of these rivals and he won in great style on his seasonal bow last year. 

Like his stablemate Steely Ally, he's rated 134 coming into this Class 2 event, and while Sam Twiston-Davies sticks with the other Thomas contender, having the talented Dylan Johnston on board claiming 5lb is no slight on Lump Sum's chance. 

Indeed, the rider was boasting a 50 per-cent strike-rate with three wins from his last six rides coming into the weekend's action and he'll be brimming with confidence on a horse with untapped potential for a yard that has hit the ground running with a winner at Chepstow on Friday – under Johnston – with its first runner since the spring.