Welcome to the November 2014 edition of the Donn McClean Racing newsletter.

Looking ahead

These are the golden weekends of the National Hunt season. Morgiana Hurdle/Paddy Power Gold Cup weekend has just passed, and the schedule over the next few weeks now, leading up to the end of the year, is just about as good as it gets:

22nd/23rd November: Ascot Hurdle, , Troytown Chase 29th/30th November: Hennessy Gold Cup, Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, Drinmore Chase 6th/7th December: Tingle Creek Chase, John Durkan Chase 13th/14th December: December Gold Cup, 20th/21st December: Long Walk Hurdle, Ladbroke Hurdle 26th-29th December: King George VI Chase, Lexus Chase, , Paddy Power Chase, Welsh

Over the next few weeks, we are probably going to see , , , , , , , Smad Place, , , , and just about every other top National Hunt horse in training.

The six-week period that runs from now until the end of the calendar year is probably the most exciting six-week period of the season! Looking back

After a good end to the Flat season, Private Clients of Donn McClean Racing have also made a good start to the National Hunt season.

Open Eagle (advised ante post at 12/1) ran out an easy winner of the November Handicap at Doncaster to ensure that the Flat season ended on a high, and the National Hunt season got off to a good start with the Open meeting at Cheltenham last weekend.

Morito Du Berlais (advised at 8/1) battled on well to win the two-mile-five-furlong handicap hurdle that ended Friday’s card. Private Clients backed two winners from four bets on Saturday: Sam Winner (advised at 8/1) in the Murphy Group Handicap Chase and Caid Du Berlais (advised at 14/1) in the Paddy Power Gold Cup.

The other two bets on the day were Buywise (advised each-way ante post at 10/1), who finished fifth in the Paddy Power, and Big Easy (advised at 6/1), who finished second in the three-and-a-quarter- mile handicap hurdle after trading at 1.1 in-running. Then on Sunday, Uxizandre (advised at 5/2) ran out a game winner of the Shloer Chase.

Private Clients who are betting at €100 per point are showing a net profit of €2,650 for November so far, and are showing a net profit of over €40,000 since the service began in 2009. They also hold a couple of decent ante post positions on the , and they will continue to build up their Cheltenham ante post portfolio over the coming weeks and months.

The subscription fee has not changed since the service began, it is still €495 for three months, and there is a special rate of €595 which will take new clients from now right up until the end of the 2015 Cheltenham Festival.

For further information, visit Donn’s Bets.

Horses To Follow

Some of the horses noted on our Horses To Follow service on www.donnmcclean.com have come good recently.

A few of the horses noted on the flat managed to win before the season ended. Fire Fighting won twice (at 6/1 and 5/2), as did Lady Lara (at 6/1 and 96/10), while Lightning Moon (MP 10/1), Sky Hunter (SP 7/2), Kernoff (MP 7/2) and Big Orange (MP 7/2) all won. Also, Jamaican Bolt (MP 10/1) finally bagged that soft ground win that he had threatened to bag all autumn!

Some old friends over jumps, like The Romford Pele (SP 9/4), Roalco De Farges (MP 10/1) and God’s Own (SP 8/1) also won, as did a couple of new friends, Warden Hill (SP 6/4) and Parsnip Pete (SP 7/2).

For more information, visit Horses To Follow.

HTF Private

Every week, Donn privately notes more horses than just the five horses that we put up on the Horses To Follow page on www.donnmcclean.com. HTF Private is a new service through which we provide access to Donn’s private notes on more horses than just those noted on the Horses To Follow page of our website.

This means that, for a small monthly fee, members will be able to access more of the horses that Donn thinks might be worth backing in the future, as long as conditions are in their favour.

There have been some good winners from the HTF Private service already, including Dunraven Storm (SP 7/2), Accession (SP 16/1), Exitas (MP 4/1), Jamaican Bolt (MP 10/1), Suzi’s Connoisseur (SP 5/1) and Albasharah (SP 5/1).

Private Clients of Donn McClean Racing receive the HTF Private service for free as part of their subscription, while the current Horses To Follow service continues in its current format as a free service to all.

For more information, visit HTF Private.

HWPA Awards

We are delighted that Donn has been shortlisted as one of four nominees for the HWPA Racing Writer of the Year award. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony in London on 1st December, so fingers crossed!

To read Donn's shortlisted articles, and for more information, visit HWPA.