The lull before the storm

Everybody is now concentrating on Cheltenham, where the Festival starts tomorrow, so obviously today´s 3 U.K. jumps meetings are all of little importance. Stratford is not all that far away and some of the top jockeys are here - Richard Johnson and Paddy Brennan for example, while McCoy, Walsh and Geraghty, who will probably dominate the big meeting, are all having a day off. The best betting race is the handicap hurdle here at 16.40 CET and Johnson partners Scotsbrook Legend for Cotswolds trainer Shaun Lycett, while Brennan is on Conor Dore´s Gud Day, who has not been out since finishing runner-up 4 times in the autumn; both come on to our short list, together with Restraint of Trade (Jennie Candlish/ Peter Carberry). There are also some Irish runners here, and we would not be surprised to see Jim Culloty saddle a bumper winner, with Mighty Concorde at 17.40 or Midsommarkransen half an hour later. both partnered by Robbie McNamara.

Another Cotswolds trainer is Charlie Longsdon and realistically he knows that he will probably not saddle a winner his local meeting, but he has prospects of landing a double at Pliumpton with Simply the West (Noel Fehily) at 15.00 and Ready Token (Will Kennedy) half an hour later. Another one we like here is May Hay in the mares hurdle at 16.00; she is trained by Tony Carson for his famous father Willie and ridden by Jamie Moore, another member of a celebrated racing dynasty.