N.H. racing at Musselburgh, Sandown and Warwick

All three tracks offering jumps racing today have some interesting races, and possibly some Cheltenham contenders will be on view. It is now exactly 3 weeks to the Gold Cup! The novice hurdle at 15.00 CET at Musselburgh is one of the best races, much stronger than the average class 4 race at this track. Red Moloney (Howard Johnson/ Denis O Regan) is the class horse here, having won twice in excellent style, but will have to be really smart to give weight to this opposition, including Houstoin Dynimo (Nicky Richards/ Davy Condon), runner-up on both his hurdles starts so far. The really interesting one could be debutant Raincoat (Heather Dalton/ Steven Craine); the ex-Gosden gelding was runner-up to Authorized in the 2007 Dante Stakes, and if he can reproduce his flat ability over sticks, will be one to follow. Howard Johnson and Denis O´regan have several fancied runners on the card and have two more winning chances with Striking Article in the novice chase at 15.35 and Wave P ower in the bumper at 17.55. Ferdy Murphy is also in good form, and holds a string hand in the 3 mile handicap chase at 16.45 with Noir et Vert (Graham Lee) and CD specialist Kalmo Bay (Matt O´Connell). At Sandown, there are only 5 runners in the Grade Two novice case at 16.20 but all of them have their chance here. German-bred Gauvain (Charlie Mann/ Noel Fehily) and Free World (Paul Nicholls/ Ruby Walsh) were both odds-on flops last time after jumping badly, but can redeem themselves here. The latter meets his conqueror Panjo Bere (Gary and Jamie Mpore) on slightly better terms now, but our selection is the much improved Doctor David (Caroline Bailey/ Andrew Thornton). Nicky Henderson is back to form this week and has three good chances with Pepsyrock in the 2 mile handiap chase at 15.10, Burton Port in the novice hurdle at 15.45 and Zanzibar Bay, who won by 32 lengths last time out, in the 3 mile chase at 17.30, all ridden by Barry Geraghty. Tony McCoy will be in action a t Warwick and can win the novice hurde at 14.50 on Nicky Henderson´s Clay Hollister, but again, this is quite a strong field. McCoy can also take the novice chase at 15.55 on Jonjo O´Neill´s Firth of Forth, an easy last-time-out winner.