Folkestone, Catterick and Southwell

Not suprisingly, there are some quite large fields at today´s 2 N.H. fixtures, but the top jockeys are at Folkestone. Only 8 line up for the beginners chase over an extended 3 miles at 14.05 CET, but this is a strong field for the money and looks the most interesting race of the day. Triggerman (Philip Hobbs/ Richard Johnson) and Pause and Clause (Emma Lavelle/ Sam Thomas) are the two top-rated runners, but the latter, who is highly rated by his trainer, needs to brush up his jumping. Strategic Approach (Warren Greatrex/ Noel Fehily) and City Theatre (Jonjo O´Neill ( Tony McCoy) are others in with a chance here. The most valuable event here is the handicap chase over 2 miles 5 furlongs at 15.35, which with 15 runners looks wide open. Midnight Haze (Kim Bailey/ Nick Scholfield) and The Rainbow Hunter (Andrew Turnell/ Edward Cookson) are two last-time-out winners looking capable of further improvement. Roi de Rose (David Pipe/ Tom Scudamore) has won his last 3 races, but there were all a long time ago in Switzerland; we prefer German-bred Victoria´s Groom (Lucy Wadham/ Leighton Aspell), who despite poor form figures (pulled up 3 times on last 4 starts) is certainly well capable of playing a major role in this company.

The top race t Catterick is lso a handovp chas, ths tim over 3 miles 1 furlong at 14.45 with 14 runners. Our choice in another very open affair is Antonius Caesar (Andrew Hales/ Peter Toole), 3rd in probably a better race at Sandown last time. But Top it All (Rose Dobbin/ Timmy Murphy), a recent Kelso winner, looks a big danger, while Hernando´s Boy (Keith and James Reveley) is the question mark of the race. He has not run over fences for 20 months, but is capable enough. The maiden chase at 13.45 sees 3 runners in opposition, who are not only maidens in every discipline, but have all been repeatedly placed and overdue for a win: Mr. Syntax (Tim Fitzgerald/ Richard McGrath), who has now been runner-up 5 times running, is our choice to defeat Si Bien (James Ewart/ Harry Haynes) and Four Strong Winds (O´Neill/ Richie McLernon).

Today´s all-weather racing comes from Southwell and our best bet here is Nazreef (Hughie Morrison/ Travis Block) who has top-weight in the mile handicap at 14.55. He is unbeaten on the all-weather, including twice this CD, and should be too strong for East End Lad (Steve Bowring/ Dane O´Neill), Thunderball (David Nicholls/ Billy Cray) et al. Nicholls probably has better prospects in the 5 furlongs handicap at 1.25, where he saddles 3 of the 10 runners: top-weight Silaah, with son Adrian in the saddle, Sir Geoffrey (Ian Mongan) and La Capriosa (Cray). However this is a very tricky race, as these runners have been repeatedly racing against each other with varying results.