Racing all over today

We have racing all over the place today, with 2 U.K. jumps meetings, 2 U.K.all-weather meetings, Irish jumping and of course the latest card in the Dubai World Cup Carnival. Main event at Meydan is the UAE Oaks at 16.55 CET. Saeed bin Suroor usually wins this race and should saddle the first two today with Local Time (James Doyle) and Good Place (William Buick), who finished first and second in the UAE 1,000 Guineas last time; Sharasai (Mike de Kock/ Paul Hanagan) finished third then, but Local Time won so easily that it is hard to see her getting beaten today and the extra 300 yards should be no major problem. Godolphin could also take the other group race, over a mile at 18.40, with either Safety Check (Buick) or Outstrip (Doyle), both trained by Charlie Appleby. Mike de Kock has 3 runners here, with Christophe Soumillon presumably riding the one with the best chance Darwin. Ex-German Empire Storm (Mike Attwater/ Paul Hanagan) has been running well here and could run into a place.

The best race in Britain and Ireland is the Grade Two novice hurdle at 16.15 at Thurles. One wonders what the point of such a race can be just 12 days before Cheltenham and the field is pretty weak. Willie Mullins obviously thinks that Milsean (Bryan Cooper) is not good enough for Gloucestershire but he could certainly be good enough here.

Of the German-breds running in the U.K. today, we like Low Key (David Pipe/ Conor O´Farrell) in the novice hurdle at 14.50 at Ludlow; he had decent form in Germany and was not disgraced on his first race over sticks. He is closely ralted to Lycidas (Charlie Fellowes/ Steve Donohue) who runs on the flat at 16.40 at Southwell; he has not run since finishing down the field in the 2012 Dr. Busch-Memorial and is probably best watched today.