Chepstow and Cork

The going will be heavy at Chepstow and our advice is to stick with CD specialists with proven form on the ground. Mark the Book (Barry Case/ Daryl Jacob) certainly comes into this category and must have a chance of overturning hot favourite Seigneur des Bois (Tom George/ Paddy Brennan) in the 3 mile handicap chase at 17.20 CET. We prefer the oldtimers in these conditions, and it could be that 15yo Victory Gunner (Richard Lee/ Jake Greenall) could be the main danger here; he loves it heavy, stays well and has been dropped in the weights. Another similar case is 13yo Star Galaxy (Jon Flint/ Donal Fahy) at 16.45, who has won 3 times on heavy ground at this track and may possibly give the favourite, top-weight Opera Og (Venetia Williams/ Sam Thomas) something to think about at these weights. A third CD specialist is Mauricethathlete (Martin Keighley/ Nick Slatter), bidding to repeat his 2012 victory at 16.15; Super Villan (Mark Bradstock/ Nico de Boinville) looks the danger here . Another one we like here is German-bred Shouda (Sue Leech/ Paul Moloney) in the handicao hurdle at 15.40; he has an excellent Schlenderhan pedigree, won 3 small races on the flat for Barney Curley and does not have much to beat in this modest affair.

Main interest at Cork weill be in the 2 1/2 miles conditions hurdle race at 16.20, in which lasdt xyear´s winner Oilily (Shane Byrne/ Andrew Leigh) and third Won in the Dark (Sabrina Harty/ Andrew Lynch) are back for anotzjher bite at the cherry. The two they have to beat are Willie Mullins´ mare Tarla (David Casey), who has fallen twice over fences at odds-on but is a smart hurdler, and especially Rebel Fitz (Michael Winters/ Davy Russell), the highest-rated riunner but burdened with a lot of weight. He is the only ride of the day for Russell, who suffered a punctured lung at Cheltenham last week and is back after only a week. He would undoubtedly be the most popular winner of the day if successful.