Tony McFadden provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Wednesday.
Three points of interest
Fantastic Lady has clear claims on ratings
The pick of the action on Wednesday is the listed mares' chase (14:25) at Market Rasen and Fantastic Lady, the winner of this in 2022, stands out as the one to beat on Timeform's figures.
Fantastic Lady is a nine-year-old but she doesn't have many miles on the clock and she produced a career-best effort to win the Grade 2 Oaksey Chase at Sandown when last seen in April.
She benefited from bumping into some below-form rivals on that occasion but she is still credited with a smart performance and would be tough to beat if running to a similar level here.
She is penalised for that success but even on these terms holds a clear edge on Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings - she tops those figures by 7 lb.
Dream Today bidding to repeat Dundalk success
Dream Today won the six-furlong handicap at Dundalk (15:55) 12 months ago and is bidding to strike again off the same mark this time.
That victory was achieved when in the care of Ado McGuinness, who is responsible for two runners in this contest, but Dream Today is now trained by Stephen Thorne.
Thorne, a former assistant to McGuinness, has made a promising start to his training career and sent out his first winners a couple of weeks ago when Sayifyouwill and Shoot To Kill won at this venue.
Impressively, Thorne's last 11 runners have at least made the frame, including Dream Today who was an encouraging runner-up over course and distance 12 days ago. He won off a 2 lb higher mark in January, so is fairly treated at present, and is one to note for his in-form yard.
In-form stables represented at Hereford
The threat of waterlogging means that Hereford's card needs to survive a morning inspection, but if the meeting gets the green light it will be worth paying attention to any market moves for Sam Thomas' newcomers Knead A Win (12:15) and Sangpoursangamoi (15:45), who contest the opening novice hurdle and concluding bumper respectively.
No only does Thomas boast a superb strike rate of nearly 30% at Hereford since the start of the 2019/20 season - with eight winners from 27 runners - but his team are in excellent order. Thomas has had three winners from his last four runners and four from his last six.
Another trainer who has his string firing on all cylinders is Matt Sheppard, and a double at Ludlow on Monday took his recent record to five winners from seven runners. Sheppard has two runners at Hereford: Mactavish, a dual course winner, in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle (14:35) and Olderfleet in the bumper (15:45).
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