Newmarket, Ffos Las and Thirsk this afternoon

The first four races at Newmarket this afternoon are for 2yo´s and there are quite likely to be some well-bred newcomers from top stables in the winners enclosure. From the betting point of view however the 1 3/3 miles handicap at 17.05 looks more interesting and Jeremy Noseda´ s very consistent Plymouth Rock (William Buick) is our choice here. Noseda can follow up with Call to Reason (Richard Hughes) in the mile maiden half an hour later, who probably has only Significant Move (Roger Charlton/ Steve Drowne) to fear.

The interesting runner at Thirsk is ex-German Andorn (Peter Kirby/ Paul Pickard), who has really found his form and has won 4 of his last 5 races, including at Catterick on Wednesday over todays distance of 2 miles. He runs in the handicap at 15.10, where Lady Hestia (Marcus Tregoning/ Frankie Dettori) looks the main danger. Frankie´s main reason for being here is to partner Saeed bin Suroor´s well-bred debutant Ru´oud in the 2yo maiden half an hour later.

There is a mixed meeting at Ffos Las, with the first 4 races on the flat and the last 4 over jumps. The most valuable event is a 2 mile handicap chase at 17.50 with some quite smart performers. Yellow Flag (Jonjo O´Neill/ Tony McCoy) was in excellent form in 2008 before an injury caused a break of 22 months in his career, but is back to top form and has in fact finished first or second in his last 7 starts. The opposition, headed by recent winner Grand Lahou (Tim Vaughan/ Richard Johnson) is now much stronger, but he can keep up this proud record.