Kempton, Musselburgh and Southwell

There is racing at Kempton for the third day in succession, but this time the action is over the jumps, and the top trainers Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Alan King will all fancy their chances. They clash in the beginners chase at 15.05 CET, in which we give preference to Patsy Finnegan (King / Robert Thornton), who made a decent comeback recently after almost 2 years off and whose stable is in great form.

American Trilogy (Nicholls/ Nick Scholfield) was easily the best of these over hurdles, but his efforts over fences have so far been disappointing. The same goes for Nicky Henderson´s Punchestowns (Barry Geraghty), who has been a beaten favourite now 3 times running. Pasco (Nicholls/ Tony McCoy) is an obvious danger, but we slightly prefer Crack Away Jack (Emma Lavelle/ Wayne Hutchinson). Plein Pouvoir (Venetia Williams/ Aidan Coleman) was such an easy winner last week at Chepstow that he can go in again under a penalty in the handicap chase at 17.20; the distance is further today, but Kempton is a relatively easy track. Alan King has 3 runners in the novice hurdle at 15.35 but jockey bookings strongly suggest that consistent Sweet Irony (Choc) is the stable selected, but Oscar Papa (Nick Gifford/ Liam Treadwell), from another in-form stable, looks dangerous; he has flopped twice, but his earlier form was good enough for him to take this.

Trainer Howard Johnson and jockey Brian Hughes look the team to follow at Musselburgh, where they have fancied runners in several events. Sitting Tenant has been off the track for 15 months, but if anywhere near peak form should win the beginners chase at 15.25, while Stormy Weather, top weight in the handicap hurdle at 16.00, and Little Hercules, a useful bumper horse making his debut over sticks, can score at 16.35. Logans Run at 17.10 and Rupert Lamb at 17.45 also have chances, but in these races we perfer course specialist Nelliedonethat (Lucinda Russell/ Campbell Gillies) and Aikman (James Ewart/ Harry Haynes) respectively.

A selling handicap on the all-weather is not the best betting medium, but on a very poor Southwell card the only runner to appeal to us is Yossi (Richard Guest/ Andrew Heffernan) at 15.50. He has not won for ages, but has repeatedly been placed, many times over this CD, and his opponents are all look woefully out of form.