Southwell (a.w.) and Leopardstown (Ireland)

Today´s British N.H. meetings at Chepstow and Sedgefield have been abandoned, leaving only the all-weather track at Southwell staging racing in the U.K. However there is an excellent N.H. card at Leopardstown in Ireland with some huge fields.
This does not apply to the main event, a Grade Two novice chase at 14.20 CET in which only 4 line up. In theory this must be won by Jessicas Dream (Gordon Elliott/ Timmy Murphy), who won a Grade One last time at Fairyhouse, defeating subsequent Grade One winner Realt Dubh. Even if this form is slightly suspect, Jessicas Dream should be able to concede 7 lbs to these opponents.

Much more interesting from the betting point of view are the two valuable handicaps on the card- a chase over 2 miles 5 furlongs at 14.50 and a hurdle race over 2 miles at 15.25. In the former event Willie Mullins´ two runners Jayo (Paul Townend), runner-up here last year, and Dooneys Gate (Paddy Mullins), must be respected, as is Noel Meade´s Jered, whose jockey Tony MCoy can do no wrong at present. However the two we like best are top-weight Rare Bob (Dessie Hughes/ Paddy Flood), who has been running in better company, and the lightly-weighted Silent Creek (Christy Roche/ Alan Crowe).

The hurdle race with 26 runners is ferociously difficult, and one could mention a dozen runners without getting on placed. The situation is further complicated by the fact that several top trainers - Mullins, Meade, Tony Martin, Edward O´Grady) have more than one entry. Our short list includes New Phase (Dermot Weld/ Robbie McNamara), Final Approach (Mullins/ Townend) and Mubrook (O´Grady/ Tommy Treacy), but the two German-breds Belord (JJ Walsh/ Keith Coleman) and Prince of Fire (Charlie Swan/ McCoy) also have their chances.

The card at Southwell is low-key but includes several recent course winners that could score again. Dontpaytheferryman (Brian Ellison/ Dale Swift) has won his last 3 races here, including on Thursday by 11 lengths, and looks almost unbeatable in the1 mile 3 furlongs handicap at 15.15. The same goes for Dubai Hills (Bryan Smart/ A Carter) half an hour later, an easy winner a week ago over this CD and penalised just 6 lbs. Even Stevens (David Nicholls/ Billy Cray) has won his last 4 races, including twice this CD, but from a handicapping point of view he should not beat Shostakovitch (Sylvester Kirk/ J Doyle), a head behind him last week and now 4 lbs better off.