5 meetings today

5 meetings today, but mainly low level events with big fields and not at all punter-friendly. There is jumps racing at Ludlow and Towcester. At the former track Tony McCoy once again looks the jockey to follow; he has 4 rides and in our view they all hold winning chances. Fools Wildcat at 15.10 CET and Definite All Star at 17.10 are both trained by Irishman Gordon Elliott, while Calypso Bay at 16.10 and Mauritino half an hour later are trained by Jonjo O´Neill. The German-bred Mauritino is our best bet here; he won his last two races over hurdles back in the spring, but has also been in good form on the flat since. At Towcester, another German-bred with a chance is Nicky Nutjob (O´Shea/ Josh Wall) in the handicap hurdle at 17.20. He has gone up 9 lbs for his easy Hereford win in August (with this claimer up) but the opposition here looks weak.

At Nottingham, Frankie Dettori has 3 rides for Godolphin: Fennell Bay at 16.30, Estourah at 17.00 and Kehraba at 18.00; none of them are stable stars but they could all be involved in today´s low level events. Most likely winner at Navan´s afternoon meeting, with the usual huge fields, is Hidden Universe (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen) in the 2 mile maiden at 16.35. He is a smart hurdler and also a top bumper winner and should outclass this lot, but is unlikely to start at a decent price. Kempton´s evening meeting is best left alone, but with trainer and jockey still in terrific form, we expect Gusto (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes) to win the 2yo novice stakes at 21.40.