5 meetings today

Once again the best racing today comes from Ireland, from the evening N.H. meeting at Punchestown, which includes some races cancelled at the Festival meeting three because of the bad weather. The weather is till not good - though not as bad as it was then- and the going will still be very testing. The big race is the AON handicap chase over 2 miles 5 furlongs at 18.50 CET in which Foildubh (John Ryan/ Paul Carberry), a winner at the Festival, runs again under top weight, while Call the Police (Willie Mullins/ Ruby Walsh)lo h a big weoght to crry. They can of course win, but we prefer the lighter weights and will take a chance on Like Your Style (Eddie Harty/ Mark Walsh), Mullins and Ruby have another fancied runner in the other big chase, over 2 miles at 19.50, Raptor, who ran 4th in the Guinness race here ten days go, but here we prefer Osana (Edward O´Grady/ Barry Geraghty), who finished behind that day but is better off at the weights and better suited by the shorter dist ance. Mullins and Ruby should certainly not go home empty-handed, and we expect them to take the chase over 2 1/4 miles at 19.20 with Lambro.

There is N.H. racing in the U.K. at Fakenham this afternoon and Exeter this evening, but at a much lower level. At the former track we expect Paul Nicholls and Harry Derham at land a double with Captain Kelly at 16.30 and Deireadh Re half an hour later, while at Exeter Philip Hobbs and Richard Johnson can take the first two races with Princely Player at 18.55 and Bold Henry at 19.25. The last-named, who would have won easily at Kempton last time but for tipping over at the last, is our best bet of the day (assuming he doesn´t all over again!)

The flat racing, at Southwell this afternoon and Catterick in the evening, is very uninspiring. The staying handicap at Catterick at 20.40 could go to Hi Dancer (Ben Haslam/ Phillip Makin) who has been in improved form over hurdles this spring.