Top handicaps at Leopardstown

as usual, the best Sunday racing comes from Ireland, where there is a strong card at Leopardstown, but unfortunately only 3 runners in the main event, a Grade Two novice chase at 14.50 where Vautour (Willie Mullins/ Ruby Walsh) has scared off most of the opposition. He went down to a sensational 4-1 on defeat here at Christmas, but that was possibly an aberration after 6 successive victories, including a Grade One novice hurdle here and also at the Cheltenham Festival. We cannot see him losing here, with Real Steel (Mouse Morris/ Bryan Cooper), well behind him last time, booked for second spot.

Otherwise two big handicaps head the Irish card, over fences at 15.20 and over sticks half an hour later, both with big fields and looking very tricky indeed. In the former race, the two top-weights ex-German Marito and Foxrock are very smart performers, but we feel they are weighted out of it; Byerley Babe (Robert Tyner/ AP McCoy) has a chance, as does the lightly weighted Federici (Enda Bolger/ Nina Carberry), but we go for last year´s winner He´llberemembered (PG Fahey/ Jonathan Brurke), who is this time only 2 lbs higher, having only won over hurdles in the meantime. JPM;cManus has 4 runners in the hurdles race. with McCoy on Nicky Henderson´s Snake Eyes, 6th here last year and a cosy winner of his only race since at Sandown in early December. However the key race could be the similar evenmt herer at the Christmas Meeting, won by Shantou Ed, with Roch the World second,Rightdownthemiddle 4th and Draco (Aidan O´Brien/ Davy Russell) 5th. At the revised weights we select Draco, even thoiugh he is wearing the owner´s third colours.

The only racing in the U.K. is the all-weather fixture at Kempton, where the conditions race over 6 furlongs at 16.35 is the main feature, again with a very small field. Tarooq (David Barron/ Graham Gibbons) has top weight here, after winning a listed race at Lingfield a year ago, but his recent form is less exciting and we cannot see him conceding the weight to the mare Hallelujah (James Fanshawe/ Hayley Turner). The dark horse here is French raider Happy Valentine (Alain de Royer-Dupré/ Joe Fanning), a top 2yo in her native South Africa but not seen out for 18 months.