Good jumps racing today

The flat season ends today as the jumping season gets under way, with some good races at all 4 meetings today.
At Sandown, all eyes will be on top flat handicapper and hurdler Overturn (Donald McCain/ Jason Maguire) as he makes his long-awaited chasing debut at 14.20 CET. As long as he jumps o.k., this should be a stroll in the park. The ex-Aga Khan runner Rayadour (Alan King/ Wayne Hutchinson) is expected to make a winning hurdles debut in the 3yo hurdle at 14.50, while General Ting (Lucy Wadham/ Leighton Aspell) looks a good thing to take the handicap hurdle at 16.00 under bottom weight, following his easy Kempton win on Monday.

The best card is at Wincanton; this is Paul Nicholls´ local track, and he won all 3 feature races last year and could well repeat that feat today. His runner in the Grade Two novice chase at 15.15, Poungach (Ruby Walsh) fell last time, but can be forgiven that lapse; King of the Night (Noel Fehily), who has a nice German pedigree and is trained by Nicholls´ ex-assistent Harry Fry, could be the danger. Nicholls saddles 3 runners in the Grade Two Elite Hurdle at 15.50; Zarkandar (Daryl Jacob) is possibly the best of them, but he has a huge weight and Ruby understandably prefers Prospect Wells. German-bred Local hero (Steve Gollings/ P.Bohan) is in great form and an obvious threat, and Topolski (David Arbuthnot/ Tom Cannon), off since March, would be a big danger if back to his old form. Michel le Bon (Nicholls/ Walsh) has not been seen since winning over hurdles in April, but has a good chance in the listed handicap chase at 16.25, where Golden Chieftain, from the in-form Tizz ard stable, looks a big danger despite a hefty hike in the weights.

At Kelso, two 2011 winners can repeat their victories in the top handicaps on the card - German-bred Soprano (Jim Goldie/ Henry Brooke) in the handicap hurdle over nearly 3 1/2 miles at 14.30, and top-weight Stagecoach Pearl (Sue Smith/ Ryan Mania) in the 2 mile handicap chase at 15.40.

In Ireland, we expect the classy Hisaabaat (Dermot Weld/ Andrew Lynch) to concede weight to some useful opponents and win the Grade Three hurdle at 14.05 at Naas.