Southwell (a.w.), Uttoxeter (N.H.) and Roscommon (Ireland) this evening

This evening´s all-weather card at Southwell is pretty dire and form horses are hard to find. In view of his erratic stable form, it is difficult to recommend any of Barney Curley´s runners at present, but Elusive Hawk (Tom Queally) must have good prospects in the 6 furlongs handicap at 21.40 CET; his only two career wins have come at this CD and in fact he won this race last year. Carpe Diem (Richard Fahey/ Tony Hamilton) has shown a little ability, which might be sufficient to win the maiden handicap at 20.10, while Goirge Thisby (Rod and James Millman) has Rebel City and Defecator to beat in the 6 furlongs maiden at 21.10. There are some large and competitive fields over jumps at Uttexeter, and the most popular winner of the evening would probably be Nicky Henderson´s Major Miller (Marcus Foley) in the 3 mile handicap hurdle at 21.50, as he is likely to be the trainer´s last runner before starting his controversial suspension. However there are 18 runners here and it look s wide open. There are also the usual huge fields at Roscommon´s mixed meeting (3 flat races, 3 over hurdles and a lady´s bumper). The most interesting runner here is Aidan O´Brien´s Red Rock Canyon (Johnny Murtagh), who has frequently been used as a pacemaker in Group One races, and in theory should easily account for this evening´s opposition in the 10 furlongs maiden at 20.00.