5 meetings today

5 meetings today and easily the best sport is to be seen at the Irish N.H. meeting at Punchestown with 3 graded races. The star of the show is Forpadytheplasterer (Tom Cooper/ Barry Geraghty). The brilliant 2009 Arkle winner has not been seen out since pulling up in the King George on Boxing Day at Kempton, which followed a string of second places in top events. Unfortunately he has only two inferior opponents to beat at 17.15 CET today, both of whom have to give him weight, so he is very close to a certainty; his odds will reflect this, so he is not a betting proposition, but it will be a sensation if he fails to win here. We expect the novice hurdle at 15.45 to go to Steps to Freedom, an easy winner at Fairyhouse 3 weeks ago and easily the best of these on flat form. Smart hurdler Shinrock Paddy makes his chasing debut at 16.45, and although he has been off the track for 8 months, should win this comfortably if he can transfer his form over sticks to fences.

There is also N.H. racing in the U.K. at Uttoxeter and Wincanton, but at a much lower level than in Ireland. At the former track, Tony McCoy can land a double with Torretto at 15.10 and Mistoffelees at 16.40; the latter, who has a German pedigree and was decent handicapper on the flat for Luca Cumani, is our best bet here. A German-bred winner at Wincanton could be Sadlers Star in the handicap chase at 15.50;he has been put up 8 lbs for an easy win at Fontwell last time, but this opposition does not look strong.

Our German bred-fancy on the flat is Agapanthus (Barney Curley/ Tom Queally), who runs in the 10 furlongs handicap at 16.00 at Brighton. Following Barney has been very expensive this year, but today could be the day for this one-time listed performer, now racing off a very low mark. Othrwise we expect a Godolphin double here via Asaid at 15.30 and Expert Fighter at 16.30, both trained by Saeed bin Suroor. It is rather late in the season, but bin Suroor has finally hit top form, and can also take the main event at Kempton´s evening meeting, a mile and a half handicap at 21.20, in which he has two runners, Deraasa (Tadhg O´Shea) and Yasir (Ian Mongan), both with chances