Sunday, April 19, 2009

Lingfield (a.w.), Stratford (N.H.) and Wincanton (N.H.)

No flat racing on turf in Britain today, with Lingfield staging an uninspiring all-weather meeting. Kammaan (Michael Jarvis/ Philip Robinson) is expected to win the 6 furlongs fillies maiden at 15.40 CT after showing promise on her only start in 2008, while German-bred Polish Power, coming off a 3 months break, could run well at his favourite track with top-weight in the 10 furlongs handicap at 17.10. The 2 mile handicap at 17.40 looks tricky. Ryan Moore partners CD specialist Wine ´n Dine for his father Gary, but Jagger (Ger Butler/ Eddie Ahern), Keenes Day (Mark Johnston/ Royston Ffench) and Sevenna (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally) are all seasonal debutants expected to show improvment this year. Top jumps trainer Paul Nicholls has had a quiet month so far, but it could be different today as he has several fancied runners, both at his local track Wincanton and at Stratford. At Wincanton, Nosler at 15.20 and Classic Swain at 17.50 should both score over hurldes, while Pertinent at 16.50 and Alfreds Tower at 17.20 both have solid chances in very tough handicaps. All four will be partnered by young Harry Skelton, while the trainer uses several different jockeys at Stratford. The Nightingale (Christian Williams) at 15.30, What a Friend (Sam Thomas) at 16.00, Ofarel d´Airy (Olivr Greenall) in th hunter chase at 17.30 and Indian Blood (Timmy Murphy) at 18.00 all have clear chances, while our best bet of the day is Andrew Turnell´s Kew Jumper (Tony McCoy) in the handicap chase at 16.30, whose last-time-out win from Pepsyrock was givenea big boost yesterday.