Saturday, November 15, 2008

Other N.H. racing today

There is plenty more N.H. racing today, with Uttoxeter and Wetherby staging cards in Britain and Punchestown in Irelan. The best race at Punchestown is the Grade 3 Novice Chase over 2 3/4 miles at 14.50 CET. Trafford Lad (Eamonn Sheehy/ Tom Doyle) was the best of these over hurldes but was not impressive when winning on his chase debut and may struggle to give weight to the last-time-out winners Parsons Pistol (Noel Meade/ Paul Carberry), Siege Master (Dessie Hughes/ davy Russell) and Window of Hope (Tom Taaffe/ Paddy Flood). At Wetherby, the best 2 races are the final class 3 handicaps, both part of the ferociously difficult Scoop 6 bet. The handicap chase at 15.55 could concern Killard Poiunt ( aroline Bailey/ Sam Jones), Rakalackey (Henry Daly/ Mark Bradbourne) and Super Road Train (Sue Smith/ Mr. A.E. Kinirons), while the hurdle race half an hour later has Heavenly Chorus (Keith and James Reveley), European Dream (Richard Guest/ Paddy Aspell) and Ela Re (Sue Smith/ Tjade Collier) on our short list, but obviously unbeaten Knockavilla (Howard Johnson/ Davy Condon), despite a long layoff and much stronger opposition now, could be a huge danger, but basically anything is possible in these events. At Uttoxeter, the 2 mile introductory hurdle at 15.10 looks the most interesting race; hurdles debutant Movesgoodenough (Andrew Turnell/ Noel Fehily) has won his last 3 races on the flat and has the useful bumper horses Call me a Legend (Alan King/ Christian Williams) and Youngstown (Donald McCain/ Jason Maguire) to beat .