Bank Holiday action

Today is a bank holiday in the U.K., which means lots of racing in the afternoon, but much more quantity than quality. However there is quite a decent card at Goodwood, headed by the listed Festival Stakes for older horses over 10 furlongs at 16.10 CET. Laheeb (Michael Jarvis/ Richard Hills) is the likely favourite here; he was third in a group race on his only start this season, while he finished 2009 by winning 4 of his last 5 races.

However his in-form trainer has warned that he might not be suited by this track, and Palavicini (John Dunlop/ Eddie Ahern), from stable that always does well here and with very similar form, can be preferred. Drunken Sailor (Luca Cumani/ Kieren Fallon) and Traffic Guard (Paul Cole/ Jamie Spencer) are also not out of it. The big betting race here is the 7 furlongs handicap at 17.20 which looks wide open. 4 of the 14 runners met in the Victoria Cup recently at Ascot, where Huzzah (Barry Hills/ Jimmy Quinn) finished 6th, Thebes (Mark Johnston/ Frankie Dettori) 7th, Bravo Echo (Mike Attwater/ Neil Callan) 16th and Signor Peltro (Henry Candy/ Fergus Sweeney) 24th of 29. The weights are only minimally changed, and we hope to see Thebes come out on top this time, but Cyflymder (Richard Hannon/ Ryan Moore) could well beat the lot of them.

Main event at Redcar is the Zetland Gold Cup, a well-established 10 furlongs handicap. This is another very open race, and Luca Cumani could be on the scorecard here as well with Forte dei Matrni (Jean-Pierre Guillambert); last-time-out winners Cairnsmore, Sweet Lightning and Oneofapear are obvious dangers. The 3yo handicap over the same distance at 16.35 is also an interesting race, in which we expect Judiciary (Mahmoud al Zarooni/ Ted Durcan) to get the better of Shimmering Moment (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally) and Omaruru (Mark Johnston/ Joe
Fanning).

In other action, it could be interesting that John Gosden sends his stable jockey William Buick to Chepstow to partner Radio Wave in the 3yo maiden at 16.05; Buick´s other rides, Scarcity for Ed Dunlop at 17.50 and Bateleur for Mick Channon at 18.55 also have chances. At Leicester we like the prospects of top-weight Poppet´s Lovein (Andy Haynes/ Robert Havlin) in the 7 furlongs handicap at 16.50; this half-brother to Overdose runs his best races for today´s jockey. At Carlisle, ex-German Wind Shuffle (Jim Goldie/ Freddie Tylicki) runs in the 9 furlongs handicap at 16.30. He is a recent winner over hurdles, but his flat form is bad, however he runs here over a very low mark. Also in the field is Royal Power, winner of the German 2,000 Guineas in 2006, but he appears to have lost form completely. The logical winner here is last-time-out winner Bollin Dolly (Tim Easterby/ David Allan) and the same team can double up 35 minutes later with the consistent Jonny Lesters Hair.

There is also racing today over jumps at Cartmel and Towcester as well as a mixed meeting at Ballinrobe (Ireland)