Plumpton (N.H.) and Wolverhampton (a.w.)

There are now only two meetings in the UK and Ireland today, a very modest all-weather card at Wolverhampton preceded by an above average Monday jumping card from Plumpton. While better class novice chases usually have only a very small field with a long odds-on favourite, quite the opposite is the case in the 14.35 CET race here, which not only has 8 runners but also five more than useful performers. Mahonia (Paul Nicholls/ Ruby Walsh) is likely to start favourite in view of his connections, but in terms of previous ability over hurdles, both Franchoek (Alan King/ Tony McCoy) and ex-German El Dancer (Lucy Wadham/ Leighton Aspell) can be preferred, while both Numide (Gary Moore/ Philip Hide) and Shoreacres (Brendan Powell/ Wilson Renwick) are also smart enough. El Dancer is one of our favourite horses and we hope he can pass this test, but it will not be easy. The 3yo hurdle here at 14.05 and the novice hurdle an hour later are also good races, in which he hope to see Tony M cCoy ride a double. In the former he partners Jim Best´s Anak, who after an easy win here on his debut, fell at 6-1 on (!) last time out, and in the latter Abbevillian for Charlie Egerton, who has Aldertune (Nicholls/ Walsh) to beat. The most popular winner of the day however would be the ex-French Lord Francois, having his first race for Tim Vaughan at 16.40 . He is the only ride of the day for Richard Johnson, who is on a career total of 1,999 winners.

It is hard to get excited about the all-weather racing at Wolverhampton, but veteran Yorkshire trainer Mick Easterby has a chance of landing a double with German-bred Bright Sparky (James Sullivan) at 16.50 and hat-trick seeking Desert Vision (Lee Topkiss) at 17.20. The maiden race at 17.50 looks on paper to lie between Barbarian and Tobrata, but if the late debutant Woolfall Sovereign (George Margarson/ Tom Queally) has any ability at all, he could easily win this.