Morrison is dreaming of a wet Christmas to suit Not So Sleepy

Hughie Morrison is keeping his fingers crossed for a rainy Christmas Day ahead of Not So Sleepy’s outing in the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle on Boxing Day.

The nine-year-old posted a career-best effort when dead-heating with Epatante to share Grade One glory in last month’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.

That race was run in testing conditions with snow falling throughout the day, but Kempton is expected to provide a different examination with the ground currently described as good, with rain forecast before the race.

Morrison said: “It’s the only real option for him now that he has won a Grade One. We are a bit reticent about the ground as we would like plenty of rain, but we have what we have got.

“He had a hard race at Newcastle and he has not

had that hard a race for a while, but then I think everything did as you saw the third (Sceau Royal) run two weeks later and he didn’t run any sort of race.

“He seems in good order though and we are looking forward to it, but I just hope they have a very wet Christmas Day there.

“The ground is far more critical than the track as soft ground just takes a bit of the edge off the other horses’ speed.”

Six remain in contention for the Christmas Hurdle, with last weekend’s Ascot winner Tritonic set to make a swift reappearance, while Soaring Glory would be seeking redemption after a disappointing effort at Newbury last time.

Morrison has full respect for that pair, along with the reopposing Epatante.

He added: “Epatante on better ground will be difficult to beat, especially with her mares’ allowance.

“Tritonic is improving though and he is looking back to being the horse that won the Haynes, Hanson and Clark conditions race at Newbury as a two-yearold judging by his last display at Ascot.

“Soaring Glory disappointed last time at Newbury but he looked very good previously.”

Hughie Morrison.