4 poor meetings today

The usual dreary Monday fare in the U.K., and the Irish racing, where there are 4 flat races at Listowel followed by 3 over hurdles, is better. The fillies maiden over a mile at 16.35 CET sees a clash between Adeste Fideles (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) and Comtesse (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen), both very well-bred and lightly-raced; they were both beaten at odds-on last time and clearly not everything has gone to plan, but they must surely dominate these opponents. The most valuable race of the day comes half an hour later, a handicap for 2yo´s over the same distance. O´Brien has two of the 6 runners here, but we prefer the least exposed runner, Ernest Shackleton (Jessica Harrington( Niall McCullough), who showed improved form when third at Galway a week ago. Over hurdles we like Specific Gravity (Adrian McGuinness/ Andrew Lynch) at 18.35; he was only fifth on his hurdling debut, but should have learned from that and was much better class than these opponents on the flat.

The seaside track at Brighton stages its last meeting of the year today, a sure sign that summer is almost over. The 6 furlongs handicap at 17.50 is the most interesting event; Panther Patrol (Eve Johnson Houghton/ John Fahy) has won his last 4 races, including this CD; he has gone up 15 lbs but could still score again.

At Musselburgh Jim Goldie and Graham Lee can land the two staying handicaps with top-weight Merchant of Dubai at 16.40 and Alexsandar half an hour later; in both cases the Mark Johnston/ Franny Norton runners look to be the biggest dangers.

Tom Dascombe and Richard Kingscote have had a disappointing season - up to yesterday that is, when they had their first ever Group One victory in the Irish St. Leger. They can continue in this vein with Capo Rosso, who has top weight in the 8 1/2 furlongs handicap at 17.30 at Wolverhampton.