three listed races today

much more interesting racing today compared to the past two days- although there are still some small fields and the ground in the U.K. is still on the firm side. There are listed races at Yarmouth and Sandown, and also at Listowel, which also features the big betting race of the day, the Kerry National.
The Yarmouth race at 16.15 CET is a ten furlongs event for fillies and mares and was won last year by Principal Role, who was owned by Khalid Abdullah, trained by Sir Henry Cecil and ridden by Tom Queally. This trio should score again as their Timepiece stands out on form and on ratings. She was not beaten far when fourth to Snow Fairy last time at Deauville and before that was an excellent runner-up in the Nassau Stakes - that is solid Group One form which none of the other runners can claim. Clinical (Sir Mark Prescott/ Luke Morris) has good listed form but must give weight away, while Sweetnessandlight (Jason Ward/ Ted Durcan) is much improved this season. Hamdan al Maktoum has 3 runners, and jockey bookings suggest that Jiwen (Roger Varian/ Tagdh O´Shea) is the best of them, but they will all need to show amazing improvement if they are to trouble Timepiece.
The Sandown race is over a mile at 17.00 and looks very tricky, even with only 5 runners. Hamdan´s main jockey Paul Hanagan is here to partner Sir Michael Stoute´s Tazahum, who is narrowly top-rated. However he is no certainty, and Set the Trend (David O´Meara/ Daniel Tudhope) Fulbright (Mark Johnston/ Silvestre de Sousa) and Gabrial (Richard Fahey/ Richard Hughes) are all smart handicappers who could also make their mark in this grade.
At Listowel the listed race is over 1 1/2 miles at 15.55. The two lightly-raced 3yo´s Chamonix (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) and Tandem (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen) should dominate here, with preference for the former, who looks very promising.
The Kerry National, a valuable 3 mile handicap chase at 17.05 has 18 runners and is of course wide open. Our selection is oldtimer Ponmeoath (Emmet McNamara/ David Casey), who won the race oin 2007 and 2008, has run respectably in it every year since and is now on a very reasonable weight.

Betting forecas at Yarmoutht:
1. Race: Lord Of The Garter - Living Desert - Lionheart
2. Race: Links Drive Lady - Miss Polly Plum - Palmette
3. Race: Timepiece - Emirates Queen - Sweetnessandlight
4. Race: Initiator - Colour Guard - Anjaz
5. Race: Shena`s Dream - Alraased - Dannios
6. Race: Stone Of Folca - My Propeller - Whaileyy
7. Race: Arch Villain - Awesome Pearl - Petaluma