Ayr (N.H.), Newbury and Thirsk

Ayr stages the Scottish Grand National, its best jumps race of the season, tomorrow but today´s card is also of great interest, with the 2 1/2 mile handicap chase at 17.00 CET the main feature. All 9 runners have chances, with Watch my Back (Ferdy Murphy/ Jason Maguire) and Tell Henry (Mike Todhunter/ James Reveley), who has been off sibnce December, the likely favourites; Nigel Twiston-Davies has a great record in Scotland, so his Patman du Carmil (Paddy Brennan) should not be overlooked, despite his awful form figures.

The mares handicap hurdle at 17.35 is also very tricky; David Pipe has 2 runners here, with preference for Soliya (Tom Scudamore), but Paul Nicholls´ Smuglin (Harry Skelton) also looks dangerous. Best race at Thirsk is the 5 furlongs handicap at 17.15, which should go to trainer Richard Fahey, who saddles two candidates Steelcut (Paul Hanagan) and Bo McGinty (Freddie Tylicki). The best racing this afternoon comes from Newbury , but 4 maiden races for 3yo´s, all with large fields of mainly unraced but well-bred types these are a minefield for punters. Best betting race is the 5 furlongs handicap at 15.40, where the field of 14 includes two previous winners Oldjoesaid (Henry Candy/ Dane O´Neill) and Green Manalishi (Kevin Ryan/ Neil Callan).