Taunton and Huntingon

finally we have some jumps racing today after several blank days, and both Taunton and Huntingdon offer some compettiive racing, though not at a very high level, but with some decent fields and of course any racing is better than nothing.

At Taunton our eye is caught by several German-bred runners and we like the chances of Amanto (Paul Nicholls/ Sam Twiston-Davies) in the novices handicap hurdle at 16.45 CET. This five-year-old, from a top Ittlingen Family, has run well on both his U.K. starts and although this race is possibly the toughest of the day, we feel that the handicapper has let him in lightly. Another possible winner here is Global Thrill (Bernard Llewellyn/ Robert Williams)in the maiden hurdle at 15.05; he was a group race winner in Germany, and although his U.K. form so far is not inspiring, he is surely capable of scoring at this level, while Sternrubin (Philip Hobbs/ Richard Johnson) runs in the same race. Northern Bay (David Piper/ T Greatrex) was last time out third in a similar race at Ludlow with this young rider aboard and could be placed again in the opener at 14.35.

A German-bred at Huntingdon is Double Handful (Lawnay( Nick Scjholfield), who runs in the novices handicap chase at 16.00; we remember this one leading for a long way in the 2009 German Derby, but we are not so keen today as he is coming off a 14 months break. Top race here is the 4yo hurdle at 16.35, with several unexposed types running, but on all known form this should lie between Chatez (Alan King/ Wayne Hutchinson) and Arabian Revolution (John Ferguson/ Noel Fehily), both of whom look very talented: as the latter receives weight from his rival, we make him the choice.

Betting forecast Taunton:
1. Race: Pinkneys Prince - Kastani Beach - The Game Is A Foot
2. Race: Global Thrill - What A Scorcher - Sir Frank Morgan
3. Race: Gold Medal - Bella - Zanstra
4. Race: Kings Apollo - Merchant Of Milan - Sivron
5. Race: Amanto - Auvergnat - Winning Spark
6. Race: Strawberry Hill - Bobby Dove - Diamond Tammy
7. Race: Olympian Boy - Follow The Tracks - Riversbridge