Southwell (a.w.) today

The all-weather track at Southwell now offers the only racing in Britain and Ireland today, after the abandonment of all jumps racing. Matsunosuke (Ron Harris/ Luke Morris) appears to hold an outstanding chance in the claiming race over 5 furlongs at 14.15 CET. A smart performer at his best, he has tons in hand on official ratings - far more than the 8 lbs plus he is set to concede here.

However he has shown his best form at the other all-weather tracks, and possibly Sloop Johnb (Richard Fahey/ Jack Mitchell), who has been in good form recently, is a viable alternative.

The handicaps at 14.50 and 15.25 are the best betting races on the card. In the former event over 1 mile 3 furlongs Trachonitis (John Jenkins/ Greg Fairley) attempts to repeat his 2009 victory; he was beaten here by Dontpaytheferryman (Brian Ellison/ Dane O´Neill) the last time they met but now meets that opponent on much better terms. A bigger danger in our view is Lay Claim (Alan McCabe/ Shane Kelly), the only 3yo in the field; he finally got off the mark here last time after a long series of near misses and looks the only possible improver in a field of mainly exposed types. It could be a similar story in the mile race, where Exopunta (Julia Feilden/ Fairley) can follow up an easy CD win last time out.