4 poor meetings today

this week, which features the Newmarket Craven Meeting as well as a million pound card on the all-weather on Good Friday, starts off with four very low level cards - on the flat at Windsor and Pontefract and over jumps at Hexham and Tramore (Ireland). The best policy could be to follow the top jockeys, and we find Ryan Moore, who has an excellent strike rate at Windsor, riding 3 horses for his father Gary there: Marmalady at 16.20 CET, who has gone up 20 lbs after her winning her last 4 races last year, Freddy with a Y at 17.20 and Jupiter Storm half an hour later. Meanwhile Tony McCoy is at Hexham, where he has 3 rides for Donald McCain: Short Takes at 15.30, Wild Card at 16.00 and Bespoke Lady an hour later. Of course it is not likely that all 6 will win, but we certainly expect that some of them will.
The best racing comes from Pontefract, with the 6 furlongs handicap at 16.10 quite an open affair. Colonel Mak (Andrew Mullen), one of 2 runners trained by David Barron, is a CD winner and was also 7th in this race last year. which was a a much stronger renewal. He comes on the short list, as does Annunciation (Richard Hannon/ Pat Dobbs), who won the Shergar Cup Sprint last year, and Yeeoow (Karl Burke/ Joey Haynes), who now looks nicely handicapped after a couple of below-par performances. It could be a profitable afternoon for Mullen, as we also like New Youmzain in the Marathon at 16.40, while Thorpe Bay, also trained by Mike Appleby, has a chance in the 5 furlongs handicap at 17.40 although he is more of a Southwell specialist.


Betting forecast:
1. Race: War Paint - Horsforth - Ar Colleen Aine
2. Race: Thatchmaster - Ansaab - Bartack
3. Race: Annunciation - Colonel Mak - Majestic Myles
4. Race: Tartan Jura - Rock Relief - Jawaab
5. Race: Al Senad - Active Spirit - Little Shambles
6. Race: Manatee Bay - Windforpower - Thorpe Bay