Hanagan v de Sousa

Once again the main interest at today´s two flat meetings - on the all-weather at Southwell in the afternoon and at Wolverhampton in the evening - lies in the continuing battle between Paul Hanagan and Silvestre de Sousa for the jockeys championship. Both are riding at both meetings today, and have 3 rides each. Hanagan leads by 8 with only 3 days to go, so it is basically de Sousa´s lat chance to make up the ground.

Some bookmkers have already paid out of Hanagan, but de Sousa appears to have better rides today and we feel that he can still make a race of it. However the are without exception very low grade events, so that form means very little; however we fancy Kinloch Castle at 13.40 CET, Powerful Prince at 15.10, and Coastal Passage an hour later, all ridden by de Sousa at Southwell, and Shieldmaiden at 18.30 and Findhornbay at 19.00 as well as Eyedoro at 21.00 at Wolverhampton; so this could still go down to the wire. Of course a couple of winners for Hanagan would decide the issue; his best chance in our view is Evens and Odds at 20.00 this evening.

The jumps racing in the U.K. is also of little interest, although Western Approaches (Nicky Henderson/ David Bass) looks a good thing to win the mares maiden hurdle at 14.20 at Towcester. She is the only runner of the day for her powerful stable.

The Irish meeting at Thurles is better with some large fields and some competitive racing. The listed 2 3/4 mile chase at 14.55 has only 5 runners but they are all useful and this looks the day´s best race. The race conditions favour Cooldine /Willie Mullins/ Paul Townend) and he is our selection.