3 flat meetings this afternoon

Plenty of runners today with 6 flat meetings plus an Irish N.H. fixture and some big fields all over. Newbury´s card this afternoon features a listed race for 2yo´s over 6 furlongs at 16.40 CET. 3 of the runners are unbeaten - Wise Venture (Alan Jarvis/ Jim Crowley), Factory Time (Mick Channon/ Hugh Bowman) and Saigon (Jamie Toller/ Kirsty Milzcarek) and obviously they are respected, but the winner is more likely to come from those who have been contesting better grade events. B Fifty Two (John Hills/ Seb Sanders) and North Star Boy (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes) both ran in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot. The former did better there, but the latter has since run a big race in the July Stakes at Newmarket last week and is the selection. The 10 furlongs handicap here at 18.20 is a very tricky race. Hamdan al Maktoum owns the two top weights, Taqleed (John Gosden/ Jimmy Fortune) and the consistent Udabaa (Marcus Tregoning/ Richard Hills) and both could go well, especially the latter in the owner´s first colours, but we prefer the only 3yo in the field Sud Pacifique (Jeremy Noseda/ Richard Hughes), 6th behind Brown Panther at Ascot last time.

The most interesting race at Haydock is the conditions event over 7 furlongs at 17.00. Norville (David Evans/Cathy Gannon) has already won 6 times in 2011, but is hard to place now, while Mahubo (Tom Tate/ Jamie Spencer) has not run since February at Meydan.The safest options would appear to be Katakosi (Andrew Balding/ David Probert), who has been running in group races, and Shamandar (William Haggas/ Silvestre de Sousa), who is very well treated by the race conditions; he was a smart 2yo in 2009, but missed all of 2010. He has shown very little since his comeback this season, but a return to anywhere near his best form would give him a great chance here and of course he is partnered by the hot jockey of the moment.

The mile handicap at 16.50 at Nottingham could go to one of the bottom weigts, Cono Zur (Ruth Carr/ James Sullivan) or High Five Society (Roy Bowring/ Charles Eddery), who is chasing a hat-trick but now faces better opposition.