N.H. racing at Hereford, Huntingdon and Tipperary (Ireland)

There are some small fields at Hereford this afternoon, and we expect Prince des Marais (Caroline Bailey/ Andrew Thornton) to complete a hat-trick by beating his 4 opponents in the 2 mile handicap chase at 16.50 CET. He is at his best on the fast ground he will encounter here. Otherwise the Hereford meeting can belong to Tony McCoy who has started the new season in great style.

He has winning chances on Victory Surge at 15.50, Badger Foot at 16.20, I can Run can You at 17.20 and Chit Chat at 17.50, all for Jonjo O´Neill, and can also take the bumper at 18.20 on Scoter Fontaine for Rebecca Curtis, who has an excellent strike rate here. There are some German-breds with chances at the evening meeting at Huntingdon. In particular we expect Kristallo (Paul Webber/ Wayne Kennedy) to run well in the handicap hurdle at 20.10; he flopped when last seen over sticks, but has since won twice on the flat (both times at Kempton) and as a son of Lando, will appreciate the fast going. Wiesenfürst (Gary and Jamie Moore) and Königsbote (Mrs.Leech/ Paul Moloney) also have prospects at 19.40 and 21.10, but in their cases the last-time-out winners Bid Art and Wor Rom respectively can be preferred.

There are the usual huge fields at the Irish jumps meeting at Tipperary. Here again a couple of German-breds catch the eye- Grantsville (Tom McCourt/ Paul Townend) in the handicap hurdle at 18.15 and Diophas (Edward O´Grady/ Andrew McNamara) in the beginners chase at 19.50.