Monday, April 05, 2010

U.K. racing today

there are 6 British meetings today, but frankly the sport on offer is pretty poor everywhere. The best race is probably the mile handicap at Redcar at 17.55 CET. Pendragon (Brian Ellison/ Barry McHugh) is unbeaten in 3 starts this year, all at Southwell, and it remains to be seen how he will handle the switch back to turf. Wovoka (Kevin Ryan/ Paul Hanagan) looks very dangerous off bottom weight, while the best recent turf form is boasted by Dubai Dynamo (Ruth Carr/ Andrew Elliott), third in a big field at Doncaster. German-bred Dawnhill (by Tiger Hill out of a Surumu mare!) is very lightly raced and could be dangerous, but has not shown much so far.
Most of the top jockeys - Dettori, Fallon, Spencer et al- are in action at Yarmouth, where the opening 3yo maiden at 14.45 could be the most interesting event with several well-bred types from big stables, such as debutant Ancient Greece (Mark Johnston/ Dettori) in the line-up. Clockmaker (John Gosden/ William Buick), one of only two older horses in the field, and Khajaaly (Ed Dunlop/ Richard Hills) both showed promise on their only starts last year and are both big dangers. Two German-breds of interest could be Aviso (Barney Curley/ Tom Queally) and Raptor (Mark Rimmer/ Nicky Mackay), who have top weight in the handicaps at 16.25 and 18.10 respectively. Classic winner Aviso has been unplaced in all 8 starts in Britain, but can hardly sink much lower than this class 6 race. Raptor at least has some decent form and is a course winner; he is now moving up in distance.
The best racing over jumps is at Huntingdon, where the 3 mile handicap chase at 16.55 is a fair race. Sea Cadet (Lucy Mongan/ Harry Skelton) is unbeaten in 2 starts this season - one in May and one (over this CD) in November; as he clearly goes well fresh, he can complete a hat-trick, but Or Jaune (Gary and Jamie Moore), beaten favourite against much stronger opposition at Sandown last time, could be a big threat. The novice hurdle at 18.05 could be interesting; two of the 11 runners have already won, but two hurdling debutants catch the eye - Nicky Henderson´s Monetary Fund and especially Hilfiger (Ian Williams/ Robert Thornton), who won 3 races on the flat in Germany last year.

Betting forecast Huntingdon:
1. Race: Guydus - Hi Dancer - Another Miracle
2. Race: Viable - Jim Tango - Cockatoo
3. Race: Action Impact - Southampton - Ashfield`S Dream
4. Race: Sea Cadet - Dennis The Legend - Forzy Origny
5. Race: Magic Merlin - Lady Florence - Blinded Bythelight
6. Race: Monetary Fund - Screaming Brave - Wester Ross
7. Race: Chicago Alley - Impact Zone - Dolans Bay
8. Race: Sizing Ireland - Kind Of Easy - Peedeeque