N.H. racing at Bangor and Newbury

For a midweek meeting just before Christmas, Newbury´s card today is pretty good, with some large fields and very competitive races. The two divisions of the maiden hurdle in particular could see some future stars in the line-up. In the first division at 12.50, we like the chances of Salden Licht (Alan King/ Robert Thornton), despite the rather patchy stable form. This one was a listed performer on the flat for André Fabre and Baron Ullmann and can get off to a winning start over hurdles. In the second divison at 14.25 Nicky Henderson´s Oscar Whisky (Barry Geraghty) is also expected to win on his hurdles debut; he won both his bumpers at this track in very promising style. Henderson and Geraghty can also take the novice hurdle at 16.10 with another potential top-notcher, the mare Candy Creek. The 3yo hurdle at 13.20 can go to Good Lord (Francois Doumen/ Tony McCoy), runner-up on all his 3 starts so far- all at Auteuil- from a stable that always does well in Britain. Another r unner with "seconditis" is Paul Nicholls´ Fistral Beach (Ruby Walsh), who runs in the limited handicap chase for novices at 13.50. He is a real bookies´ friend, having been a beaten favourite for all his last 7 races, finishing runner-up 6 times. He still has a good chance today, with Quinz (Philip Hobbs/ Richard Johnson), behind him last time but now better off, the main danger. The jockey is still waiting for the 2,000th winner of his career, and this one is possibly his best chance today.

At Bangor, the main events are two class 3 handicap hurdles. The race at 14.10 should mainly concern top-weight River Logic (John Hetherton/ Keith Mercer), who has come back from a long break in excellent form, and Berwick Law (Paul Robson/ Timmy Murphy), an easy winner 10 days ago. At 15.20 Magnifico (David Evans/ Christian Williams), who just failed in his hat-trick bid last time, has an obvious chance, but we also like Sphinx (Edwin Tuer/ Mercer). Normally we cannot fancy 3yo´s racing against older horses over jumps, but German-bred Heredias (George Baker/ Harry Haynes) should go well in the conditional jockeys handicap hurdle at 15.55, and another German-bred with a chance is Alpha Way (Donald McCain/ Paul Benson) in the novice hurdle at 14.45, even though he appears to be the stable´s second string.