Musselburgh and Taunton

The most interesting race at Musselburgh today could be the novice hurdle at 13.50 CET. 14 runners, several of whom were quite useful on the flat, notably Bowdlers Magic (Mark Johnston/ Richie McGrath), Ingleby Spirit (Richard Fahey/ Brian Hughes) and Merchant of Dubai (Jim Goldie/ James Reveley). They have all run over hurdles, and the last-named showed the best form when runner-up at Kelso, so he is the logical choice, but we would not be at all surprised to see Bowdlers Magic run much better than he did at Huntingdon, as that looked a strong race and he will know more about the game now. The best event here is the handicap hurdle at 15.20. We do not like betting 3yo´s against older horses, but Royal Opera (Brian Ellison/ Danny Cook) is an exception. He has looked really promising in his 3 outings over sticks, and can take advantage of the weight he receives from hat-trick-seeking Simply Ned (Nicky Richards/ Fearghal Davis).

Paul Nicholls has sent two runners on the short journey to Taunton and they both carry top weight - Doeslessthanme (Daryl Jacob) over fences at 14.30 and Prince Tom (Harry Derham) over sticks half an hour later. Both have obvious chances, although German-bred Oldrik (Philip Hobbs/ Richard Johnson) and the same team´s Magic Marmalade look dangerous. One of the finds of the season is the young jockey Brendan Powell, son of the trainer with the same name, and he rode 3 winners yesterday. He can ascore again today on Wine´n Dine in the novice handicap hurdle at 14.00, where Monarch´s Way (John Ferguson/ Jack Quinlan) looks the chief threat.