4 meetings today

Very little excitement at today´ s four meetings, with the 3 British meetings in particular all at a very low level. At Musselburgh we hope to see the German-bred Los Nadis improve his good course record in the handicap over 1 3/4 miles at 16.20 CET. He keeps his form remarkably well and loves this track. Obvious danger is the 3yo Al Furat (RE Barr/ Paul Hanagan), much improved since being stepped up in distance and an easy winner last time at Redcar despite hanging badly. Th onlyother rc on intert her i th 5 ulong handovao for 2yo´ at 17.50. Rent Free (Nigel Tinkler/ Silvestre de Sousa) has won 3 of his 6 starts and is easily the best horse in the field; however he has to give away lumps of weight, including 19 lbs to recent Redcar maiden winner Rougini (Elaine Burke/ Andrew Elliott), which will not be simple.

At Brighton, Milton Bradley saddles his two veteran sprinters, the 14yo The Tatler (Cathy Gannon) and 11yo Cape Royal (Richard KIngscote) in the 5 furlongs handicap at 18.00. They ran against each other last week at Chepstow, where Cape Royal was runner-up in a similar race with The Tatler well back. Cape Royal should run well again, but surely it is time to retire The Tatling, who has shown niothing in his recent starts. Best bet here is Go Dutch (Roger Varian/ Neil Callan) in the 2yo maiden over 7 furlongs at 15.00. He has run well on both starts and none of others inpire much confidence.

Callan rides in the first 2 races at Brighton and then travels up at Kempton, where he has fancied rides in the last 3 races. However the more interesting event here is the mile maiden for fillies at 15.40. Godolphin have two well-bred runners here, Wadha (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori) and the debutant Hairpin (Mahmood al Zarooni/ Ahmed Atjebi), while Sir Mark Prescott´s Appeal (Seb Sanders) is another newcomer with a good pedigree.

Irish racing is having it own problems, but it is worth noting that Listowel today has considerably more prize-money on offer than all 3 U.K. tracks together. The meeting here goes on all week, and today´s is a mixed card with 3 flat races, 3 over jumps and a bumper. Secretary of State (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) has top-weight in the 2yo handicap at 16.45 after finishing second four times and fourth twice in his 6 starts, but we prefer Hurricane Ridge (Jessica Harrington/ Fran Berry), winner of his only start so far. Eagles Pass (TJ O´Mara/ Paul Townend) and Gala Dancer (Paul Nolan/ MN Doran) have each won their last two starts and clash in the novice chase at 17.15; at these weights we prefer the latter. There are also some promising types in the novice hurdle at 17.45. Charlie Swan´s lighty-raced mare Taraval (DG Hogan) is our choice here.