N.H. racing at Bangor and Fontwell

Despite the abandonment of Kempton, there are still two jumps fixtures today and main interest will be centred on Tony McCoy´s attempt to ride his 3000th winner. He has 4 rides at Bangor and we expect him to reach his target today after a frustrating wait because of the numerous abandonments of the past week. In the opening novice hurdle at 14.45 CET he rides Galaxy Rock for Jonjo O´Neill, but that one will need to improve on the form he has shown so far to trouble the 3 recent winners in the field; however with Jonjo´s stable in good form, this is by no means impossible. However McCoy has a much better chance with his next two rides, Forty Five, also forJonjo, and an easy winner last time in a ladies race, in the handicap hurdle at 15.15, and Picture in the Sky for the Keighley stable in the novice hurdle at 16.20; with the forecast hot favourite Massatoit not running, he now has little to beat. McCoy´s final ride, Paisley Cross for Jonjo O´Neill in the bumper at 17.55, als o has a decent chance, but we hope that by then the magic figure has been reached. There are very small fields at Fontwell, with only 30 runners declared for the 6 races, and several non-runners also to be expected. The going here, as at Bangor, will be very testing. Shoreacres (Brendan Powell/ Keith Renwick) has been running well in good company and looks the best bet of the card in the opening novice hurdle at 14.35. There could well be some German-bred winners here, as Gauvain (Charlie Mann/ Noel Fehily) has a good chance in the novice chace at 15.10 and Silent Wind (Gary and Jamie Moore) can take the handicap hurdle at 16.15; he was only beaten a nose in the 2005 Union-Rennen by Königstiger. Father and son Moore can also win the handicap chase at 17.20 with the much-improved Fix the Rib.