two Group Twos at Meydan

there are 5 ,meetings in the U.K.and Ireland today, three of them over jumps, but by far the best racing of the day comes from Meydan, where there are two Group Two races, both on turf, plus 5 handicaps. The Cape Verdi for fillies at 17.30 CET has a rather substandard field for a race of this value, with surprisingly no runners from the top Godolphin or Mike de Kock stables. In their absense it could go to French-trained but German-bred and -owned Cladocera (Alain de Royer-Dupre/ Christophe Soumillon), who is really just a smart listed performer but could still score here. The Al Rashidiya at 18.40 has a much stronger field, headed by Vercingetprix (de Kock/ Soumillon) a Group One winner over this CD last year and runner-up in the Dubai Duty Free to Just a Way, rated the best horse in the world. If he is back to form after his break, he should win here but he faces a serious opponent in True Story (Saeed bin Suroor/ James Doyle), an impressive winner here 3 weeks ago.
The best card at home is at Wincanton, where Paul Nicholls usually does well at his locyl travck; he has 2 runners in his own race, a handicap hurdle at 16.40, Rothman (Sam Twiston-Davies) and Earthmoves (Nick Scholfield); the former is a bit of a dark horse, but normally the latter has the better chance on form, with Blue Buttons (Harry Fry/ Gary Derwin), who beat Earthmoves here last time but is now worse off, the obvious danger. Nicholls can also take the other valuable handicap here., a chase over the same distance of 2 1/2 miles at 16.10, with the lighly-raced Atlantic Roller (ST-D), where Cloudy Bob (Pat Murphy/ Jamie Moore) could be the main threat.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Not A Given - I`m Back - Storm Belt
2. Race: Banaadeer - Lancelot Du Lac - Fountain Of Youth
3. Race: Filfil - Alareef - Pit Stop
4. Race: Cladocera - Oh Star - Energia Fribby
5. Race: Another Party - Free Wheeling - United Color
6. Race: Vercingetorix - True Story - Sanshaawes
7. Race: Haafaguinea - Almoonqith - Mushreq