Listed races at Haydock and Nottingham

Haydock stages a strong mixed card this afternoon, with the first 3 races well-contested N.H. events, followed by 5 flat races. The 3 jumps races are basically the last decent races of the spring for N.H. performers and the Swinton Hurdle at 14.55, a valuable handicap over 2 miles, has attracted 24 runners. First Point (Nicky Henderson/ Richard Killoran), one of 3 German-breds in the field, Pterodactyl (Venetia Williams/ Aidan Coleman),moving up in class after 2 easy wins, and Ellerslie Tom (Alison Thorpe/ Daryl Jacob), third here a year ago and now running off a lower rating, are our three for the short list.

Later, ther is a losted race over 7 furlongs at 16.05. The interesting on here is the only 3yo in the field, Godolphin´s City Style (Ted Durcan), a winner twice in the USA last year and twice at Nad al Sheba during the Dubai Carnival. That form would be good enough, but with the Godolphin horss not yet really firing in the UK, we prefer ex-French Garnica (David Nicholls/ Silvestre de Sousa) and Ordnance Row (Richard Hannon/ Tony Culhane). There is also a listed race at Nottingham over 6 furlongs for fillies and mares at 16.30. Here again the lone 3yo is of interest - Tim Easterby´s Favourite Girl (David Allan), while the more exprienced Lesson in Humility (Karl Burke/ Andrew Elliott) and Look Busy (Alan Berry/ Slade O´Hara) are the two top-rated in the race but also have the most weight. There is also racing at Hexham (N.H.), Dundalk (all-weather) and this evening at Warwick and Thirsk, but no real highlights at any of them.