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The problems endured by the Donald McCain yard in recent years have been well-documented and the 53 winners he recorded last season amounted to his worst tally since first taking over from his father in 2006/07. Nevertheless, he has made a far more positive start to the current campaign and already has 45 winners to his name at this very early stage of proceedings. Indeed, six of those winners have come in the last two weeks alone and it could pay to follow his runners as we enter the busy festive period. McCain appears to hold a particularly strong hand at Bangor next Thursday - the trainer has 14 entries on the card at the time of writing - and Freddies Portrait will definitely be of interest if taking his chance in the two and a half mile handicap chase. He has been consistent in his short career to date and is entitled to be thereabouts again if building on the promise he showed when second on his chasing debut at Carlisle earlier this month. Viserion could make his hurdling debut on the same card and will be difficult to beat if reproducing the fairly useful form he showed when completing a hat-trick on the Flat this summer, while point-to-point winner Princess Mononoke is another to note if making her rules debut in the closing bumper.
Tom Dascombe has lacked a stable star since Brown Panther's unfortunate passing in September 2015, but the trainer is still on course to record the most successful season of his career to date in terms of both winners and prize money. That is in some small part due to the terrific form of his string in recent weeks and, with four winners from his last nine runners, Dascombe looks set to end with 2016 with a bang and will now bid to continue his good run with entries at Southwell, Kempton and Wolverhampton next week. Captain Revelation bounced back to form when successful on his most recent outing at Southwell and could bid to follow up over the same C&D on Tuesday. He should still be competitive from 4 lb higher in the weights and would be worth a second look in the market, a comment that also applies to Seve at Kempton that same afternoon. He was disappointing when down the field at Lingfield last time, but that represented a far stronger race than he has been contesting of late and he should more at home dropped to the same grade as when winning at that venue last month. Finally, the thriving Simply Me is entered at Wolverhampton on Thursday and would appear to hold sound claims if reproducing the form of her second at Kempton in October.
Under the radar - Nick Gifford
Josh Gifford sent out a series of big race winners from his Downs Stables in 33 years with a training licence between 1970-2003 and is perhaps best remembered for masterminding the recovery of 1981 Grand National winner Aldaniti. Top level success may have been harder to come by since son Nick took over the reins in 2003, but Straw Bear provided the yard with some valuable memories when winning the Fighting Fifth Hurdle (2006) and Christmas Hurdle (2007). It is hard to believe that some nine years have passed since that most recent victory, but Gifford enters the latest festive period in top form once again (one winner and four placed from his last 11 runners) and will be hoping Brown Bear can add to last week's success at Towcester. He has already achieved far more in two starts over fences than he did over hurdles last season and remains open to more improvement as he gains experience. He is one to look out for if turned out quickly at Taunton on Tuesday, while the next appearance of The Mighty Don is also highly anticipated. He showed a fairly useful level of form in bumpers and should prove extremely difficult to beat next time if jumping better than when second on his hurdling debut at Lingfield earlier this month.
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