Smart N.H. performers on the flat at Kempton

Easily the most interesting racing today takes place at Kempton, which stages a card of 7 "jumpers bumpers", all over 2 miles. These are however very tricky races for punters, with flat, bumper, hurdling and chasing form to take into account, plus the fact that many horses that have been running over longer distances over jumps may find this tight 2 miles on the short side. Star of the show is Peddlers Cross (Donald McCain/ Jason Maguire) who runs at 15.50 CET. He started off by winning his first 7 races and was then runner-up in the 2011 Champion Hurdle. This is the best form of any runner today,. but he has been slightly disappointing since, despite winning a couple of small races over fences, and has not been seen out since flopping at last year´s Cheltenham Festival. He is likely to be a hot favourite today, and we would rather take him on, as the opposition is strong. Megastar (Gary and Jamie Moore) has won recently on the flat, including this CD, so will show up any wea kness, while Sam Winner (Paul Nicholls/ Ruby Walsh) and especially Salden Licht (Alan King/ Robert Thornton) are both smart performers. We prefer the last-named, who has a German pedigree and was a listed winner on the flat in France.

Nicholls has several runners today, all well-fancied and all partnered by Ruby, but some of them are chasing types who may not be ideally suited by today´s conditions. However Sky Watch in the 14.45 and Pearl Swan half an hour later must be seriously considered, although we just prefer Ericht (Nicky Henderson/ Barry Geraghty) and German-bred Cabimas (G+J Moore) respectively. The Moores have another chance with Woolfall Treasure at 16.55, who has won his last two races on the flat, including this CD, but this is a very hot race. Drill Sergeant (McCaoin/ Maguzire) was a Royal Ascot winner on the flat, while Starluck (David Arbuthnot/ Daryl Jacob) has good form to his credit on the flat, over hurdles and over fences, and Ardlui (King/ Choc) is another smart dual-purpose performer.