N.H. racing at Leicester, Musselburgh and Punchestown

Three more rather low-level meetings today, and easily the best horse on view is Fiveforthree (Willie Mullins/ Paul Townend) who runs in the opening race at 14.15 CET at the Irish meeting at Punchestown. The going will be very heavy here and there is an all-hurdles card, with racing taking place on the inside track. Fiveforthree has not run for nearly 2 years, but he was a Cheltenham Festival winner in 2008 and is almost unbeatable on his old rating, this trip of 2 miles is too short as well, as he is being aimed at the World Hurdle, so he is not a good bet at the likely short price, but it is still difficult to see him getting beaten. Ex-German Der Speiler (JG Coogan/ Barry Geraghty) should finish in the money. Another ex-German horse with place claims is Heavenly Blues, whom we remember winning 4 races for Hermann-Josef Koll in 2006. He is now trained by Ted Walsh and will be partnered by daughter Katie in the conditions race half an hour later, where Mullins once again sad dles the hot favourite,Call the Police (Emmet Mullins). Mullins can also score with Pickapocketortwo in the maiden hurdle at 15.45 and Alfred James in the bumper at 17.15, both ridden by son Paddy.

At Leicester, L´Homme de Nuit (Jim Best/ Denis O´Regan) is another German-bred with place chances. he runs in the novice chase at 15.40; he unseated his jockey, through no fault of his own, at Plumpton on Monday, and with better luck can get involved here, although Bathwick Quest (Brendan Powell/ Tom Scudamore) looks a more logical selection. O´Regan possibly has better prospects on Nicky Richards´ Lahib the Fifth in the handicap chase at 15.10. Best bet here is Battlecry in the hunter chase at 16.10; trained by Nigel Twiston-Davis and ridden by Willie, his talented younger son, he used to be a smart performer and came back to form last time with an easy point-to-point win with this teenager aboard.

Dontpaytheferryman (Brian Ellison/ Paul Gallagher) is an interesting runner in the handicap hurdle at 16.50 at Musselburgh. He has had a great run on the all-weather, winning 4 of his 5 starts, and is still well handicapped over sticks. Fellow lightweights Kaolak and Pokfulham look the main dangers. Irish trainer Ian Ferguson sends over two runners and both have good chances- Zemsky (Derek O´Connor) in the hunter chase at 15.50 and Posh Bird (Jason Maguire), who has top-weight in the handicap hurde at 17.20, although last weekend´ s easy Ayr winner Locked Inthepocket (Pauline Robeson/ Timmy Murphy) could be a problem.