jumpers bumpers at Lingfield

Lingfield today stages a "jumpers bumpers" meeting as the scheduled jumps card has had to be abandoned. Today´s card is not as good as the similar meetings held at Kempton in the past month, though it includes several runners from Kempton, notably Ourmanmassini (Suzy Smith/ Paddy Brennan), who finished runner-up at both of them. He should now get his head in front at 16.40 CET. Otherwise the card will probably again be dominated by the top trainers, with Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls both fielding strong teams. Henderson in particular has a good record in such events and we expect him to score with One Lucky Lady (Nico de Boinville) at 15.40 and One For The Guv´nor (David Bass) half an hour later.
Wincanton and Bangor both stage conventional jumps meetings, but the very soft/ heavy ground and small fields (only one race has normal each-way betting) do not make them attractive for punters. Paul Nicholls usually does well at Wincanton, his local track, and can land a short-priced double with Fairytale Theatre at 15.20 and Fascino Rustico at 16.50, both partnered by Daryl Jacob. It is interesting to note that Barry Geraghty goes to Bangor for 2 rides for Rebecca Curtis, Churchtown Love at 15.30 and Creative Boru at 18.00 and we therefore hope that they can both win. Take the Mick (Venetia Williams/ Aidan Coleman) runs for the third time in a week at 17.00, but although he is still very well handicapped, we do not believe that he will still be able to bring his best form to the race and would rather take him on.
The most interesting race at Kempton´s evening meeting is the mile event at 20.50. Premio Loco (Chris Wall/ George Baker) has been one of our favourite horses ever since he won Germany´s top two mile races back in 2009. He has been off since running badly at Newmarket in early October and has to concede weight all round, but is still the best horse in the field and we hope that he wins en route to another crack at the Winter Derby, which he took in 2012.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Very Noble - The Stig - The Nephew
2. Race: One Lucky Lady - Minella For Value - Harry Hunt
3. Race: Shooters Wood - One For The Guv`nr - Supreme Present
4. Race: Chalk It Down - Ourmanmassini - Sparrow Hills
5. Race: Empire Levant - Earls Quarter - Stormy Weather
6. Race: Inner Drive - Agha Des Mottes - Vodka `n Tonic
7. Race: Prettyasapicture - Minx Of The Lamp - Hortense Mancini