Newbury, Ayr and Thirsk this afternoon

The best racing today comes from Newbury, where there will be some interesting 3yo´s in actiopn.. The 10 furlongs conditions race at 16.15 CET has frequently been won by subsequent group race winners, and this could be the case again. Bullet Train (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally) and Admission (Michael Bell/ Hayley Turner) both won their only start so far at Yarmouth, the former last October and the latter11 days ago.

Bullet Train in particular looks destined for better things and has been supplemented for the Derby.Gardening Leave (Andrew Balding/ Jimmy Fortune) and Rasmy (Marcus Tregoning/ Richard Hills) are also contenders in what could be a very informative race; with the Tregoning horses all running well, we go for Rasmy here. There could also be some decent 3yo´s in the 7 furlongs handicap at 15.10, in which Rebel Soldier (Jeremy Noseda/ Jimmy Fortune), an impressive winner of his only start, two months ago at Lingfield, and Rjeef (Clive Brittain /Neil Callan), winner of both his 2010 starts, stand out. Best bet at Newbury is Gertrude Bell (John Gosden/ William Buick) in the second division of the 10 furlongs maiden for 3yo fillies at 18.30. She ran really well on all 3 sarts in 2009.

There is also flat racing at Thirsk, but at a miuch lower level. Paul Midgley looks the trainer to follow here and has fancied runners in 3 races. Dispol Grand (Joe Fanning) won over today´s distance of 5 furlongs at Catterick last time and can follow up at 17.15. On the second division of this sprint handicap, Midgley has 2 runners, Time Medicean (Tony Culhane), who has been off since August, and the 11yo Highland Warrior (Paul Pickard), an easy winner last time at Musselburgh and still capable of scoring in this grade, while Dispol Kylie (Fanning) can complete a good afternoon for the stable by taking the 6 furlongs handicap at 18.20.

Ayr begins its biggest N.H. meeting of the year today, with the Scottish Grand National tomorrow as the top event. Here we like the chances of another veteran 13yo Mister McGoldrick (Sue Smith/ Barry Geraghty) in the 2 1/2 mile handicap chase at 16.25. Chaninbar (Milton Harris/ Sean Quinlan), an easy winner at Aintree last week, is an obvious threat. There are some useful types in the novices handocap chase at 15.20, where all eyes will be on Kauto the Kid (Paul Nicholls/ Harry Skelton), a half-brother to Kauto Star, who is having his first race in the U.K.