Ascot and Haydock

there are 3 jumps cards this afternoon- Ffos Las, Ascot and Haydock, as well as racing on the
all-weather this evening at Wolverhampton and Dundalk. There are small fields at all the afternoon meetings and normal each-way betting will only be available on a handful of races.
Ascot and Haydock are both gearing up for tomorrow´s top class cards, when there will be plenty of stars in action, but today´s cards, though at a much lower level, are also of interest. Haydock is honoured today by the visit of Irish champion trainer Willie Mullins, who runs Turban (Ruby Walsh) in the graduation chase at 14.,20 CET. His 3 opponents all have useful form, but Turban, only his trainer´s third runner at the track in the last 5 years, is clear top-rated here and should win. Otherwise Paul Nicholls and Sam Twiston-Davies should be the team to follow here; they can take the listed novice hurdle at 14.55 with The Brock Again, a non-runner yesterday, the novice chase at 15.30 with smart hurdler Virak, and the "fixed brush" novice hurdle at 16.05 with ex-French Vago Collonges, runner-up on all his 3 U.K. starts so far and surely due to go one better today.
At Ascot, one of our favourite horses reappears: Lysino (Dr. Newland/ Noel Fehily), a half-brother to German Derby winner Lucky Speed, was an easy winner last month at Worcester and now tries to follow up in the handicap chase at 15.40; however the handicapper has put him up 15 lbs, which we think is ridiculous, At these weights we prefer Al Alfa from the in-form team of Philip Hobbs and Richard Johnson. Puffin Billy (Oliver Sherwod/ Leighton Aspell), a Grade Two novice hurdles winner here, can take the beginners chase at 14.30, while the introductory hurdle at15.05 sees the renewed clash between Jolly´s Cracked It (Harry Fry/ Nick Scholfield) and Clondaw Banker (Nicky Henderson/ Barry Geraghty); when they met over this CD 20 days ago, the former came out on top, but we suspect that the latter can reverse the form on 5 lbs better terms. Henderson and Geraghty will also fancy their chances of winning tjhe final handicap hurdle at 16.5o with Sweet Deal, who has won his races this season in pleasing style; however this race is much tougher and we prefer Starluck (David Arbuthnot/ Tom Cannon) who is down in grade here and has been running in much better company.

Betting forecast Ascot:
1. Race: Saint Charles - Heated Debate - Arpege D`alene
2. Race: The Skyfarmer - Killala Quay - Irish Cavalier
3. Race: Wilberdragon - Jebril - Jolly`s Cracked It
4. Race: Lysino - Niceonefrankie - Al Alfa
5. Race: Howard`S Legacy - Imperial Circus - Grandads Horse
6. Race: Le Fin Bois - Flute Bowl - Starluck