7 meetings today

Plenty of racing today, but all at a very low level. There are 4 meetings over jumps, and the only flat racing is at Beverley this afternoon and Killarney in Ireland and Chelmsford on the all-weather this evening.

Beverley is alsways difficult for punters, as it is hard to tell in advance where the best ground is, although a low draw is generally an advantage. More important on this tricky track with its uphill finish is previous CD experience, and we therefore go for Amenable (Conor Dore/ Hayley Turner) and Chocá´Moca (Paul Midgeley/ Graham Lee) in the two divisions of the 5 furlongs handicap at 15.55 CET and 16.25 respectively. Both are CD winners and Amenable actually won this race last year. Both are 8-year-olds but in our opinion older sprinters can keep their form better than than the youngsters, so we also like 11-year-old Regal Parade (Charlie Wallis/ Luke Morris) in the 6 furlongs handicap at Chelmsford at 21.35 this evening. As a class 3 race, this is the best race of the day, although not many of the runners are in good form. Regal Parade has however run two good races over this CD and can give his new trainer a first success.

Jessica Harrington is better known as a jumps trainer., but she also does pretty well on the flat and we expect her Out Of Context (Fran Berry) to take the filllies maiden at 19.10 at Killarney, where they race on the flat today after two days of N.H. racing. The first 5 (of 7) races are all run over the same distance of 8 1/2 furlongs, which does not show much imagination on the part of the Irish racing authorities.

It is hard to get excited about any of today´s jumps races, but if the ground continues to dry out, German-bred Pindar (Julie Foster/ Dougie Costello) would have a decent chance in the 2 mile handicap chase at 17.45 at Sedgefield. He is only 2 lbs higher than when easily winning a similar race over this CD last September.