And welcome to the jumps

The flat season bows out, but we have plenty of top jumping today, with Wincanton taking pride of place with the Elite Hurdle at 16.15 CET. This is Paul Nicholls´ local track and he has an excellent record in the this race and also the Grade Two novice chase at 14.30, which he should certainly take with Southfield Theatre (Sam Twiston-Davies). However the Elite Hurdle, now a handicap, is the most interesting event and we are especially keen to see Irving (Nicholls/ ST-D) back in action after his Cheltenham flop. Before that he had been unbeaten in the U.,K., while he was very useful on the flat in Germany and is of course a half-brother to last week´s big Munich winner Ivanhowe.

Despite top-weight Rock on Ruby (Harry Fry/ Noel Fehily) is the obvious danger, he won the Champion Hurdle back in 2012, but failed to make the grade over fences last year; we are also very wary of Forgotten Voice (Nicky Henderson/ Barry Geraghty), who made a good comeback recently. Ther big bezttimng race hetre is tjhr Badhgetr Ales Chase over 3 miles 1 furlong at 15.40; Standing Ovation (David Pipe/ Tom Scudamore) is unbeaten here and won this last year. He is the favourite but we also like Opening Batsman (Fry/ Fehily), who is very unreliable but has an obvious chance if he is in the right mood.

There is also decent jumps racing at Sandown, at Kelso in Scotland and especially at Naas in Ireland. At the latter track, Willie Mullins and Bryan Cooper can land a double for Gigginstown with Analifet at 14.00 and Killer Crow at 15.45, while some interesting maidens run over hurdles at 14.35; we especially like Sizing Titanium (Jim Dreaper/ Jonathan Burke) here, who comes from a top German family.

Wincanton - betting forecast:
1. Race: Urubu D`irlande - Assam Black - Mccabe Creek
2. Race: Bincombe - Ballyallia Man - Bertie`s Desire
3. Race: Hollow Penny - Horizontal Speed - Tom Neary
4. Race: Tagrita - Polly Peachum - Blue Buttons
5. Race: Standing Ovation - Court By Surprise - The Young Master
6. Race: Irving - Rock On Ruby - Bertimont
7. Race: Forever Field - Present Man - General Ginger