N.H. racing at Exeter andTowcester

Two N.H. meetings today, and although the standard of racing is similar, it is significant that the top jockeys are all in action at Exeter. Tony McCoy can set the ball rolling by winning the opening handicap hurdle at 15.20 CET on Sunnyhillboy for his boss J.P. McManus and trainer Jonjo O´Neill. The lightly-raced 5yo seems to have been given a very lenient mark for his handicap debut, anbd is expected to prove much better than this grade. McCoy also partners the highly promising Gone to Lunch for trainer Jeremy Scott in the beginners chase at 16.20. He ran well enough in some of last season´s top novice chases to suggest that he should outclass today´s opposition. The two divisions of the novice hurdle over 2 miles 1 furlong that close the programme also have some interesting entries, notably the David Johnson/ David Pipe/ Timmy Murphy pair of Quaddick Lake at 17.50 and Rural Rebel half an hour later. At Towcester, the best race is clearly the class 3 novice hurdle at 16.00. Top-weight Shore Thing (Charlie Egerton/ Dominic Elsworth) has already shown talent, but will do well to concede weight to such as Ogee (Pauline Robson/ Jimmy McCarthy), an impressive winner two weeks ago, Theatrical Moment (Jonjo O´Neill/ Noel Fehily), unbeaten in 4 bumpers but so far not quite that class over sticks, and especially the French-bred filly Quechua des Obeaux (Philip Hobbs/ Tom O´Brien), who won her only race on the flat in the French provinces last spring and could be anything. The 2 mile beginners chase at 17.30 also looks interesting, and Nicky Henderson´s Ingratitude (Barry Geraghty) is clearly the one to beat, although German-bred Soprano (Jonjo O Neill/ Neil Fehily) and David Bridgwater´s Pagan Sword (Sean Quinlan) should also both go well.