3 meetings today

We are left with 3 meetings today, N.H. racing at Towcester and flat racing on the all-weather this afternoon at Lingfield and this evening at Kempton. The racing is at a very low level throughout and possibly punters would be better off by doing their last-minute Christmas shopping. At Towcester, we feel that on this bad ground oldtimers could have an advantage, so we select 12yo top-weight Miko be Beauchene (venetia Williams/ Robbie Dunne) at 15.10, 9yo CD specialist Ukrainian Star (Martin Keighley/ Alain Cawley) at 15.40 and 13yo Kinkeel (Tony Carroll/ Lee Edwards) at 16.10. Kinkeel is of course famous for tilting at windmills and was last time tailed off behind Sprinter Sacre in the Tingle Creerk; this race however is his level and with bottom weight he shoiuld go close.

At Lingfield, the 7 furlongs handicap at 15.00 looks tricky; we are not confident about the chances of the two likely favourites Shahzan, ridden by an inexperienced apprentice, and Ertikaan (badly drawn), so perhaps the safest option is Cut Across (Nick Littmoden/ Seb Sanders) who is well drawn and in good form. However favourite Noble Silk (Lucy Wadham/ Luke Morris) can take the 1 1/2 miles handicap at 16.3O; this lightly-raced 3yo won over this CD when stepped up to this trip last time and can have too much speed for Tartan Jura (Mark Johnston/ Joe Fanning), all of whose recent races have been at 2 miles. CD specialist Chjimes showed signs of coing back to form last time and can be another winner for Luke Morris half an hour earlier.

Another who is coming back to form is German-bred Querido (Paddy Butler/ Willy Twiston-Davies), who runs in the mile handicap at 18.00 at Kempton. This very well-bred 8yo has not lived up to his pedigree but is surely capable of playing a leading role here. Our other fancies at Kempton are Guest of Honour (Marco Botti/ Adam Kirby) at 19.00 and Honour (Sir Michael Stoute/ David Probert) half an hour later.

Towcester - betting forecast:
1. Race: Lydstep Point - It`s Oscar - Euro Trash
2. Race: Overafrica - Thorncliffer - Roseini
3. Race: Two Rockers - Young Hurricane - Long Wave
4. Race: Chac Du Cadran - Round The Horn - Little Chip
5. Race: Ukrainian Star - Overlay - Push The Trigger
6. Race: All For Cash - Topaze Collonges - Kinkeel
7. Race: Agent Fedora - Tonvadosa - Bobble Boru