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Mark Milligan picks his first Daily Racing Multiple of a short stint
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Trainer Donald McCain's horses are shaping as if they're just about to click into top gear as the winter jumps season starts to gather pace and he can team up with Brian Hughes to win this 2m 1f handicap hurdle at Carlisle.
Grain d'Oudairies looked one to follow on hurdling debut at Bangor last November, where he ran out an easy winner, but it clearly wasn't plain sailing after that as we didn't see him again until April.
Stepping up a couple of furlongs in trip at this track, the seven-year-old was too free after his break and simply didn't see things out well enough on the back of a break.
Still lightly raced with just three starts under his belt, there's plenty of time for the son of Kapgarde to fulfil his undoubted potential, and dropping back in trip will certainly benefit him this time.
This is a good little race but Grain d'Oudairies is less exposed than most and should put up a bold show.
We'll switch codes for the second selection, where David Simcock's well-bred filly Tiptoe is selected to get off the mark at the second attempt in this novice contest over an extended 1m.
The stable doesn't usually have them ready to fire first up, so it was no surprise that this filly could finish only fifth on debut at Kempton a couple of weeks ago, but she shaped with plenty of promise there.
Slowly away and forced wide, she still had plenty to do at the top of the straight but made up plenty of ground in the latter stages and looks sure to come on a bundle that experience.
The daughter of Lightning Spear is bred to be a good one too, being a half-sister to the very smart Military Law, who started out with John Gosden before making a real name for himself on the dirt in Meydan.
Tiptoe has a tricky draw to overcome, but Oisin Murphy is the perfect pilot for that task, and I'll be disappointed if she can't progress enough to win this.