N.H. racing at Southwell and Taunton

Southwell stages one of its rare jumps meetings today and has been rewarded by the presence of top jockeys Robert "Choc" Thornton and Tony McCoy, both of whom should be among the winners. "Choc" can win the novice chase at 16.00 CET on West End Rocker, making the most of the 10 lbs he receives from main danger Shining Gale (Charlie Mann/ Noel Fehily) and can follow up with hurdling debutante Valley of Dolls in the mares novice hurdle half an hour later, both for trainer Alan King. Easily the best race is the highly competitive 2 1/2 mile handicap hurdle at 17.00. German-bred Backbord (Lucy Wadham/ Dominic Elsworth), last seen winning a novice chase in early November, has an obvious chance, but needs the ground to dry out further. Theatre Belle (Chris Grant/ Campbell Gillies), Doubly Guest (Nicky Henderson/ Felix de Giles) and Another Brother (Jonjo O´Neill/ Tony McCoy) have chances, but our choice is Along the Nile (Keith and James Reveley), whose latest form was given a big boost yesterday, McCoy´s best chance probably lies with Henrietta Knight´s Minella Theatre in the 3 mile maiden hurdle at 17.30. Jockey stars on view at Taunton include Ruby Walsh, who has some promising rides for Paul Nicholls, best of which could be R re Rien Sivola in the novice handicap hurdle at 16.50. However Tim Vaughan´s Ski Sunday (Seamus Durack) showed much improved form to win at hereford on Sunday and with a 7 lbs penalty can score again. David Pipe, whose stable is now in excellent form, saddles 3 runners in the novice hurdle at 15.50, but Ronaldo des Mottes (Timmy Murphy), who overcame problems in running to win easily at Sandown on Friday, looks the best of them; he can concede the weight to Summery Justice (Venetia Williams/ Sam Thomas) and French import Nictory Note (Nicholls/ Walsh). Venetia should not go home empty-handed as German-bred Limerick Boy (Walter Biddick) stands out in the hunter chase at 17.20 and looks the best thing of the day.