Exeter, Newcastle and Southwell

Obviously in this pre-Cheltenham week, there will be no stars in action and the best race of the day is the so-called Devon National over 3 3/4 miles at 16.30 CET at Exeter. Stamina is the prime requirement here and therefore horses with their best form at shorter distances, such as hat-trick-chasing Plum Pudding or consistent. By George, should be treated with caution.

Our fancies are Teeming Rain (Jonjo O´Neill/ Richard McLenrnon), who won the race last year and is well handicapped, and Petite Margot (Nigel Twiston-Davies/ Paddy Brennan), who has plenty of form at extreme distances. There could be a German-bred winner at Exeter as both Princess Flame (Brendan Powell/ Jimmy McCarthy) and Salontyre (Bernard llewellyn/ Isabell Tompsett) have chances in the handicap hurdle at 16.00. However our main hope here is French Saulaie (Philip Hobbs/ Richard Johnson); he has not won for 3 years, but his stable is in form and he is now on a very lenient weight.

At Newcastle, where the going will be heavy, the combination of trainer James Ewart and his promising conditional Harry Haynes should be followed; they can take the opening novice hurdle at 15.20 with Allow Me, and the handicap chase over 2 1/2 miles at 17.50 with Open de l´Isle. Tees Components (Keith and James Reveley) loves this ground and has won 3 of his last 5 races, including twice this CD, he looks hard to beat in the 3 mile novices handicap chase at 16.20. German-bred Sandman has not run since finishing down the field at Baden-Baden 18 months ago; it will be surprising if he is able to figure against some useful novices at 17.20; this race looks to lie between penalised Glenwood Knight (Donald McCain/ AP Lane) and Luso´ s Lad (Howard Johnson/ Denis O´Regan).