Horse Racing Tips: O’Brien charge looks good at Leicester

Three meetings of Jumps racing action take place across the UK and Ireland on Sunday. First off is Day Two of the Winter Festival at Fairyhouse, before they go at Carlisle and Leicester.

Amongst Sunday's Horse Racing Tips is one for trainer Fergal O'Brien at Leicester, who will be looking to continue his strong start to the season.

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14:15 Carlisle - Medieval Gold @ 7/2

The lightly raced five-year-old Medieval Gold has been a consistent performer since switching to hurdling last year and looks open to further progress.

He has, at times, had issues with his jumping, sometimes not running at them straight, causing him to hit the top of the hurdle.

However, with only five Hurdle starts to his name, that is to be expected as he is still learning, and he makes up for it by always travelling strongly, even when he does make an error, as seen last time out.

He was not particularly well fancied on his reappearance this season at this track, but he outran his odds on his way to what could be considered a personal best.

He ran well throughout and made good headway turning for home, but it was his jumping errors throughout the race that ultimately cost him, and it was only a poor jump at the last that meant he had to settle for second place.

However, there were a lot of positives to take from that, and it looked like a good start to this campaign after an eight-month break. If he can stay clear of too many jumping errors here, he will be tough to beat.

14:25 Leicester - John Barbour @ 11/4

The step up in trip last time out at Uttoxeter looked to bring the best out of John Barbour, and connections will be looking for more of the same here.

Having campaigned over two miles for the early part of his career with limited success, he was tried for the first time over two-and-a-half miles, and the improvement was obvious.

He ran solidly through the early part of the race and made good headway after the turn for home. He was able to put his stamina to good use as he stayed on well down the home straight, and his opponents on that day did not look like catching him.

It was an eye-catching performance, one that stands him in good stead for this outing.

This looks to be a tough race as there are some with solid claims on form and he will have to defy a 5lb raise in the weights, but he acts well on soft ground so conditions should suit, and the manner in which he won last time out suggests that he is in top form himself and he has every chance of following up here.

15:11 Fairyhouse - Zillow @ 9/2

After some early promise, Zillow endured a torrid time toward the end of last season, but has since bounced back after a strong start to this campaign and looks to be one to keep an eye on.

His performances this season suggest he has taken a big step forward with two wins to his name, first over hurdles at Kilbeggan, where he dominated the field, staying on strongly in the closing stages.

He then followed up with a somewhat surprising victory on the all-weather at Dundalk in early October. Again, he stayed on strongly in the closing stages and, even though he was carried left with a furlong to go, he managed to knuckle down and take the win.

He may want the ground to be a bit drier as he has yet to prove himself in soft conditions, but his performances this season suggest he is much more like the finished article and on the up, so he should go well here.

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