N.H. racing at Cheltenham and Fairyhouse

There are some huge fields today for the fourth and final day of Fairyhouse´s Easter meeting, but much less quality than on the previous days, and the top jockeys Tony McCoy, Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty will all be in action at Cheltenham, where the card is much better. The opening 4yo hurdle at 15.10 lies between Torpichen (David Pipe/ McCoy), well beaten but not diegraced at the festival here, and Tasheba (Nicky Henderson/ Geraghty), while He´s the Gaffer (representing the Irish Grand National winning team of Bob Buckley/ Harry Skelton) is worth a small punt in the handicap chase at 15.45, despite the presence of Alxanderthegreat (Venetia Williams/ Aidan Coleman) and Le Duc (Paul Nicholls/ Walsh), who have won the last 2 runnings of this race. The two German-breds in the handicap hurdle at 16.20, Eleazar (Lucy Wadham/ Leighton Aspell) and Amore Mio (Emma Lavelle/ Jack Doyle) both have possibilities, although this is a really tough race, as is the 2 miles 5 handicap chase at 16.55. Ouzbeck (Alan King/ Robert Thornton) looked smart when winning this CD last October, but has been disappointing since; he runs in first-time blinkers today. Top-weight Oslot /Nicholls/ Walsh) and consistent Nikola (Nigel Twiston-Davies/ Paddy Brennan) are others to consider. At Fairyhouse, the best race is the mares chase over 2 1/2 miles at 16.00. Carrigeen Kalmia (Dick and Liz Lalor) won this last year, but on recent form consistent Moskova (Paul Nolan/ Davy Russell) is preferred.