Hereford, Huntingdon and Wincanton

3 jumps meetings today (Thurles off), and the most interesting race from the German point of view if the first division if the novice hurdle at 13.40 CET at Huntingdon, which has been chosen by Barney Curley for the N.H. debut of the smart ex-Schlenderhan stayer Sereth. Like most of Curley´s German imports, this one lost form for a while but he put up easily his best performance when third last time out in the Cesarewitch and if he can jump well, which can be assumed, will be hard to beat here. The best race at Huntingdon is the novice chase at 15.10. As the only winner over fences Matuhi (Ben de Haan/ Liam Heard) has to give weight away all round, and it is unlikely that he can defeat some smart hurdlers making their chasing debuts, notably Dave´ s Dream (Nicky Henderson/ Tony McCoy), Numide (Gary and Jamie Moore) and Michael Flips (Andrew Turnell/ Nick Scholfield). Henderson can also score at Wincanton with Carole´s Legacy (Andrew Tinkler), who has little to beat in the mar es novice chase at 15.00.

Wincanton is normally a happy hunting ground for local trainer Paul Nicholls, but today he has only one runner, the ex-Irish point-to-point winner Vico (Christian Williams) in the novice hurdle at 14.00, so the hint should be taken. At Hereford, in-form trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies can land a double with Diablo (Paddy Brennan) in the novice chase at 15.20 (which like the above races has a very small field) and Go West, ridden by son Sam, in the amateur riders handicap chase half an hour later. In Ireland, Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh can continue their winning streak with Sports Line at 13.35 and Dooney´s Gate at 15.05, while An Toilenach (Jedd O´Keeffe/ Davy Russell), who was runner-up to the ultra-smart Dunguib last time, can go one better in the novice hurdle at 15.35.