rain today

there is quite a bit of rain forecast today for the U.K., which means that the ground may be much softer than expected. There are also bound to be some non-runners and conditions are not good for punting, so we advise punters to keep their stakes to a minimum, especially as the racing is very low quality at all 3 meetings.

The best race of the day is the conditions event over an extended 2 miles at 16.40 CET at Pontefract. Two trainers who are currently in good form each have two runners engaged, Sir Mark Prescott and David O´Meara. and we prefer Big Thunder (Luke Morris) and Repeater (Danny Tudhope) respectively, especially as they are the choice of the stable jockeys. However the one to beat is surely Statutory (Saeed bin Suroor/ Freddie Tylicki), who has been running respectably in much better company and was a very easy winner of this race last year, when trained by Mark Johnston. The same trainer can also win the mile handicap for 3yo´s half an hour earlier with Monayyaz; Ahmad al Subousi, who has partnered him to both his victories, is in the saddle again.

Vinzenz Schiergen is one of the best amateurs around; his mount in the Fegentri race at 14.50 at Windsor, Luke Dace´s Speedy Rio, has dreadful form figures and has finished last on his last four outings; however this is such a bad race that he could still run well here at a big price. We also like Christopher Wren (Nick Gifford/ Jamie Spencer) in the 1 1/2 mile handicap at 16.50.. He is coming off a break, but won over this CD in April and also had some good form over hurdles last year. He is suited by exaggerated waiting tactics - Spencer´s speciality.

The racing at Stratford is very poor, but Decimus (Jeremy Scott/ Matt Griffiths) might be able to defy top weight in the handicap chase at 16.00. He looked very tricky when winning over fences last time, but is reasonably handicapped on his hurdles form and is one of the most unexposed runners in the field.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Ventura Castle - Mythical City - Oregon Gift
2. Race: Use Your Filbert - Fingal`s Cave - Russian Heroine
3. Race: Dream Spirit - Momayyaz - Potent Embrace
4. Race: Repeater - Statutory - Alwilda
5. Race: Mr Mclaren - Rangi Chase - Pigeon Pie
6. Race: Westerly - Lucky Jim - Where`s Tiger
7. Race: Isabella Bird - Fallen In Line - Dubai Star