4 N.H. meetings today

Plenty of action for jumps fans today, with N.H. meetings at Carlisle, Hereford and Towcester in the U.,K. and Thurles in Ireland. There are some large fields, but not much in the way of quality racing. The best betting race of the day is the 3 mile handicap hurdle at 16.55 CET at Towcester, which with 18 runners looks wide open. Theatrical Moment (Jonjo O´Neill/ Noel Fehily) was an expensive purchase after showing smart bumper form, but his hurdling performances so far have been very disappointing. However he ran better when last seen at Ascot before Christmas and must have chances here, as do Hello Moscow (Jim Best/ Tony McCoy) and Painter Man (David Pipe/ Tom Scudamore), both lightly raced and capable of improvement, while we also fancy top-weight Coda Agency (David Arbuthnot/ Andrew Thornton), who had no chance the last two times in better company following some decent runs on the all-weather.

The novice hurdle here at 17.30 also looks interesting. Pterodactyl (Venetia Williams/ Aidan Coleman) has finished in the money on 7 of his 8 British starts, usually heavily backed, but does not seem to be too keen on actually winning. Ruthenoise (Pipe/ Scu), who led for a long way in a Grade One at Cheltenham, is clearly a threat off her low weight, but our main fancy is Benedict Street (Mark Tompkins/ Colin Bolger), who made a promising hurdles debut at Sandown and has since been placed 3 times on the all-weather. Best bet of the day is German-bred Nordwind (Evan Williams/ Donal Fahy) who came good last time at Fakenham and appears to have little to beat in the novice hurdle at 15.00 at Hereford, where Rippling Ring (Paul Nicholls/ Nick Scholfield), although a major disappointment on his last 2 starts, can outclass the opposition in the beginners chase at 16.45. Sue Smith looks the trainer to follow at Carlisle, where Garleton and Aurora´s Encore, both with Tjade Collier i n the saddle, can win at 15.25 and 16.00, while she has two runners in the handicap chases at 17.10 and 18.20 and can take these also with Pass the Class (Collier) and Bamby (Henry Oliver) respectively.

At Thurles there are maximum fields in most races; Jessica Harrington has good possibilities here, especially with Quartino (Barry Geraghty) and Guitar Rory (Tommy Treacy) in the beginners chases at 17.30 and 18.00.