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Straw Bear to subdue Afsoun in battle of the Champion contenders

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Graham Cunnningham marks your card for the weekend...

Doncaster shelled out £30m on a redevelopment yet didn't feel it worthwhile to shake the piggy bank a bit harder for a decent set of frost covers.

That oversight may cost them dear this weekend if the weather boffins have their sums right, but Sandown's prospects look brighter and Straw Bear can cement his place as a live each way contender for the Champion Hurdle when he locks horns with Afsoun again in the Totescoop6 Contenders Hurdle.

Honours are even in four meetings between this pair over the last twelve months and official ratings indicate that, at their best, they are pretty much the same horse.

But Straw Bear's best is, to my mind, a little more convincing. Granted, his overall record is a shade more chequered than you like to see in a star hurdler, but he can hardly be blamed for breaking a blood vessel in last year's Champion Hurdle and he probably needed the run when well held in the Bula at Cheltenham on his reappearance this season.

Look back to February last year and the record reflects that Straw Bear simply bounded away from Afsoun on soft ground in Wincanton's Kingwell Hurdle. A gritty defeat of the mercurial Harchibald in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton last time showed that Straw Bear is right back to that level and his finishing speed can prove the decisive factor provided the meeting gets the go ahead.

Three to oppose in the Lingfield feature events

Lingfield have put up £16,000 for their two feature events this weekend and, having studied the handicaps in question, it could be that laying some of the fancied contenders is the best policy.

Millville is first up in the 2.45. Admittedly, he boasts a highly impressive Lingfield record which he enhanced in decisive fashion over this distance four weeks ago.

However, everything dropped right in a small field that day. A rise in the weights and stronger opposition will make life tougher and something akin to a career best at the age of eight will be needed to subdue the likes of Wicked Daze and Sgt Schultz.

Laying two horses in one race is a risky strategy, and one I usually steer clear of, but it might pay to make an exception by opposing Fyodor and Tartatartufata in the 3.20.

Fyodor has masses of ability, and the likelihood of a fierce gallop will suit him, but he needs everything to drop just right to get his head in front and a small lay in the win market looks the call.

Tartatartufata is one to take on in the place market. She's enjoyed a real revival of late, but that improvement has come on Southwell's much deeper surface and a draw in stall 10 will make it tough for her to hold her usual prominent early position.

Fallon and McKay - dream team or simple stop gap?

The form book tells us to expect the unexpected where Kieren Fallon is concerned.

And now it seems the most controversial jockey of the modern era is considering a switch to training at Willie McKay's Bawtry yard.

McKay, no stranger to controversial transfers in his day job as a football agent, knows that having Fallon aboard would ensure a huge surge of interest from potential owners and media alike.

But a comparison with football would also surely tell him that brilliance on the field is no guarantee of success when it comes to managing others. Witness the top of the Premiership, where the dominant clubs are all managed by men whose playing careers rarely stretched beyond the journeyman category.

And witness the outstanding jockeys who have turned their hand to training in recent times. Jonjo O'Neill has made the transition, but his old sparring partner John Francome soon decided training wasn't for him.

Even the great Lester Piggott decided enough was enough after some early success, while Pat Eddery and Walter Swinburn are trundling along in mid-table compared with their championship status during their riding days.

Clearly, Fallon is considering his long term future, but he will also want to retire from riding on his terms. The Irishman has unfinished business. Coolmore's doors may have closed but, whether he links up with McKay or not, the siren call of the saddle will surely prove too strong once his latest drug ban expires in 2009.

Owners voting with their feet as AW struggles for runners

Those who follow all-weather racing closely have a range of explanations for the rash of small fields which have become the norm since the turn of the year.

Some feel there has been too many fixtures of late, while others argue trainers are less keen than they used to be to start their horses off so early in the year.

Jockey Dale Gibson has even pointed to the rising cost of diesel fuel as a reason why northern trainers are reluctant to send horses south, but there could be another altogether more simple and worrying reason.

In short, there must be a chance that owners have finally become sick of paying through the nose for the upkeep of poor horses who run round soulless venues trying to win a measly £1,500 less deductions with a lousy carriage clock thrown in as a memento of the great occasion.

The sums ceased to make sense long ago. And, with Great Leighs finally due to serve up even more betting shop fodder this year, the situation promises to get worse before it gets better.

Cunningham's weekend wagers...
Back - Straw Bear 2.05 Sandown
Lay - Millville 2.45 Lingfield
Lay - Fyodor 3.20 Lingfield
Lay - Tartatartufata for a place 3.20 Lingfield