Newbury and Kempton today

There is flat racing this afternoon at Newbury and this evening on the all-weather at Kempton. As the courses are not all that far apart, several of the leading jockeys such as Ryan Moore will be riding at both meetings. 5 of the 8 races at Newbury are for 2yo´s, all with large fields, and these are the most interesting events today. With plenty of runners from the top stables - Stoute, Hannon, Gosden etc - including well-bred newcomers, it is possible that there may be some subsequent group winners on view, but they will not be easy to pick out yet. The Godolphin youngsters continue to achieve a remarkably good strike rate, so the debutants Mutafajer at 15.10 CET and Database at 15.45 (both Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori) must be respected, but on public form Noafal (Michael Jarvis/ Richard Hills) and the Queen´s Tactician (Michael Bell/ Hayley Turner) respectively look the two to beat. At 17.25, Dancing David (Brian Meehan/ Martin Dwyer) and Lunar Victory (John Gosden/ J immy Fortune) are the ones with the best form, while Tamaathul (Barry and Richard Hills) is the newcomer with the best pedigree.

The card at Kempton is less interesting, but Ryan Moore is particularly dangerous when riding for his father and can take the 2yo handicap at 20.00 on top-weight Oasis Jade; this one started at 33-1 when 4th over CD last time, but will not be anywhere near that price this time. Th 3yo handicap at 21.30 can go to another top-weight, Michael Jarvis´ Tripitaka (Philip Robinson), who won his only race in good style, a maiden over 11 furlongs here, and he may well be a blot on the handicap. Top-weights can also dominate in the mile handicap at 22.00, where Farleigh House (Sir Mark Prescott/ Seb Sanders) and McConnell (Gary Moore/ George Baker), both last-time-out winners, can fight it out.