Hexham Warwick and Limerick (Ireland)

The best jumps racing today comes from Warwick, where several of the top trainers have runners, notably Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls and Alan King. They clash in the novice hurdle at 14.00 CET, in which the penalised Habbie Simpson (King/ Wayne Hutchinson) must give weight to the Queen´s Morcambe (Henderson/ Felix de Giles) and Don´t Turn Bach (Nicholls/ Sam Thomas), well-beaten last time in the big bumper at Aintree. They clash again in the best race on the card, a novice chase for 4yo´s at 15.30. Henderson and Nicholls depend on the French imports Nadiya de la Vega (Andrew Tinkler) and Sir du Bearn (Noel Fehily) respectively, while King saddles Gilded Age (Hutchinson), 6th in the Triumph Hurdle, although well beaten later.

The going will be heavy at Hexham, and the Northumberland National over 4 miles at 15.40 will be a real slog. None of the runners are really convincing over this trip, and our tentative suggestion is top-weight Belon Gale (Howard Johnson( Keith Renwick). This jockey could have a nice each-way chance on ex-German Euro American (Rose Dobbin) in the handicap hurdle at 15.10. He has not won for 3 1/2 years but has dropped to a very lenient mark and goes well on the ground.

The Irish meeting at Limerick (a replacement for last week´s abandoned fixture) has some large fields. The final beginners chase at 16.55 has two smart hurdlers making their debut over fences - Quel Esprit (Willie Mullins/ Paul Townend) and Torphichen (Edward O´Grady/ Andrew McNamara), and if they jump round safely, they should dominate this opposition. Best bet here is Paul Nolan´s Zagman (Davy Russell) in the maiden hurdle at 14.55, who is highly rated by his shrewd trainer.