Mixed card at Haydock

Haydock stages what is probably the best mixed card of the year today, with 4 flat races and three over jumps, including the valuable Swinton Handicap Hurdle over 2 miles at 16.40 CET, the last big N.H. race of the spring in the U.K. With 23 runners this is very open, but Nicky Henderson has strong hand with 3 runners, including last year´s winner and top-weight Eradicate (Jeremiah McGrath), the much-improved Remember Now (Tony McCoy), a half-brother to Binocular, and the lightly-raced Higgy´s Ragazzo (David Bass). However all 3 have their fair share of weight, and we give slight preference to Irish challenger Pires (Paddy Brennan), a useful horse on the flat but also capable enough over hurdles. Martin´s reputation as a handicap king has taken some knocks this season, but this one seems very well handicapped and has probably been laid out for this race.

Tony Martin also has a chance in the 3 mile handicap hurdle at 16.05 with ex-German Green Mile (Andrew Thornton), but here we prefer David Pipe´s two runners - top-weight Buena Vista (Hadden Frost), who won a similar race at the Cheltenham festival, and especially Raslan (Johnny Farrelly), a son of Lomitas, who has been out of form but is now very nicely weighted.

Best event on the flat is the listed race over 7 furlongs at 15.00. which looks very open, now that epected favourite The Cheka has been withdrawn. Lovelace (David and Adrian Nicholls) has been generally disappointing since winning in such good style at Baden-Baden 3 years ago, and possibly stable-companion Redford (Ted Durcan) can be preferred. However our main hope here is the filly Folly Bridge (Roger Charlton/ Steve Drowne), but like Beacon Lodge (Clice Cox/ Philip Robinson) , she has been off the track for quite a while.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Beacon Lodge - Redford - Duff
2. Race: Special Boy - Mabroor - Lexi`S Prince
3. Race: Arctic Court - Extreme Impact - Micheal Flips
4. Race: Remember Now - Knight In Purple - Tatispout
5. Race: Society Rock - Bated Breath - Victoire De Lyphar
6. Race: Othermix - Red Harbour - Nafaath
7. Race: Bourne - Leader Of The Land - The Only Key