N.H. racing at Chepstow, Warwick and Fairyhouse (Ireland)

Paul Nicholls is usually the trainer to follow at Chepstow, but he has only one runner today, St. Killians Run, the likely favourite in the maiden hurdle at 14.00 CET. Timmy Murphy is down to ride, but was injured in a fall yesterday. Best race here is the 3 mile handicap hurdle at 16.15. David Pipe´s top-weight Another Display (Tom Scudamore) is one for the short list here, as is Silver Spinner (Alan King/ Robert Thornton) and German-bred Passato (Jo Davis/ Danny Burton). Another German-bred with a good each-way chance is Kyoto (Nigel Hawke/ David Dennis) in the handicap hurdle at 13.50 at Warwick. The novice chase here at 15.30 is an interesting event, even though there are only 5 runners. Nick Gifford saddles Straw Bear (Tony McCoy), once a major Champion Hurdle hope but who was unable to live up to those expectations. He needs to jump better though, and Henrietta Knight´s Somersby (Paul Moloney) will take advantage of any mistakes. Both have been off since the spring, wh ile Charlie Mann´ s Kanad (Noel Fehily), also in with a chance on old hurdles form, has been out of action for even longer. There are the usual huge fields at the Irish meeting at Fairyhouse, but only 10 line up for the main event, a novice hurdle over 2 1/2 miles at 15.00. This should be dominated by Noel Meade´s Asigh Pearl and Enda Bolger´s Arabella Boy, ridden by the siblings Paul and Nina Carberry. Paul is in the doghouse at present, following his failure to pass an alcohol test on Saturday, but is still allowed to ride until the hearing tekes place; a long suspension then beckons.

More Godolphin winners at Nottingham and Kempton?

After a poor first half to the season, the Godolphin stable has been firing in the winners since August and looks to have excellent chances of winning todays main races. This afternoon at Nottingham, Saeed bin Suroor (himself on the way to the Breeders Cup in California, as is stable jockey Frankie Dettori) saddles two runners in the class 2 conditions race at 15 .15 CET - Alexandros (Ted Durcan) and Young Pretender (Daragh O´Donoghue), and they could well take the first two places. Alexandros, who has not run since Royal Ascot, but earlier finished runner-up in the Lockinge, stands out here on ratings. Smoky Oakey (Mark Tompkins/ Jimmy Quinn) could take the minor placing; he is owned by actor Judi Dench, who will be hoping to emulate her film star colleague Omar Sharif, owner of a group race winner yesterday in France. The Godolphin team later move on to Kempton´s all-weather evening meeting, where the main event is a listed race over 1 1/2 miles at 20.50. This time Saeed bi n Suroor saddles 3 of the 7 runners, with Ted Durcan again on the favourite Age of Reason. It is quite possible that the other Godolphin runners Friston Forest (O´Donoghue) and Once More Dubai (Alan Munro) will take the next two places as well. Godolphin can also take Nottingham´s 2yo maiden at 14.10 with the superbly-bred debutant Burj Nahal (Durcan) at 14.10 and a similar race at 19.20 at Kempton with Mutafajer (Richard Hills)

German runners in France today

The flat season is almost over in France, but we have a strong card today at Maisons-Laffitte with 3 group races, two of them with German participants. In our view Mario Hofer´s Noble Alpha (Maxime Guyon) has the better chance; he missed last Sunday´s Group One event to go for this easier race, the Criterium de Maison-Laffitte for 2yo´s over 1200 metres at 14.35. Noble Alpha ran an excellent race to be second at Baden-Baden to Hearts of Fire (Group One winner since) and was then very unluckily beaten in the Preis des Winterfavoriten.

German runners have won the last two renewals and we expect Noble Alpha to complete the hat-trick. The main dangers are British raider Our Jonathan (Kevin Ryan/ Jamie Spencer) with Sorciere (Carlos and Yann Lerner) the best of the locals. Werner Baltromei has booked Lerner, very successful on German horses in recent weeks, to partner his Etoile Nocturne in the Prix de Seine-et-Oise over 1200 metres at 14.05, and she also has a chance, especially with the ground in her favour. However this is a very open race with several possible winners. The other group race is the Prix Miesque for 2yo fillies at 14.05; however this looks a sub-standard affair with no foreign runners. Irish Cat (Robert Collet/ Franck Blondel) is the possible favourite.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Benrish - Orife - Madiba
2. Race: Aristote - Sapfo - Yankee Star
3. Race: Heaven`S Heart - Absolute Music - Elisheba
4. Race: Sorciere - Noble Alpha - Dolled Up
5. Race: Dunkerque - Tiza - Etoile Nocturne
6. Race: Baine - My Lovely Girl - Touch Of Class Ess
7. Race: Anabasis - Question d`Or - Dunaden
8. Race: Tuning Mozart - Miss Denmark - Antigone
9. Race: Romain des Vignes - Ciboney Moon - Shine For Me