Events / Graham Cunningham / 30 September 2009 /

The next four days will settle a lot of arguments among racing fans, with three days of excellent sport at Newmarket and two stellar cards at Longchamp on Saturday and Sunday. Thursday represents the calm before the storm for Graham Cunningham, but the Racing UK analyst has his eye on a handful of punting angles for day one of Newmarket's Cambridgeshire meeting.

One way or another, it's going to be a lively weekend.

Today I'm making the 400-mile round trip to work alongside Nick Luck for Racing UK at Newmarket.

On Friday it's nose in the form book time to try and get all the angles covered for the best weekend's racing of the entire Flat season.

And from sparrowfart on Saturday it will start to get really serious as I head off to Paris for two days of proper betting and sensible socialising at Longchamp.

Naturally, it would be great to get things off on the right foot at HQ this Thursday, but some of the seven races appeal much more than others.

The opener at 2.00 has been won by good horses like Twice Over in recent years and it will be interesting to see what the Betfair market makes of a clutch of well-related newcomers.

However, backing horses without previous experience before has never been my thing, and although Locksley Hall's Newbury second sets the bar high for his rivals in the 2.35 it's unlikely the odds will be too generous.

The quality rises several notches when the exciting Manifest lines up for the 3.10. Henry Cecil's impeccably-bred colt bolted up by 19 lengths in a maiden on the July Course and that performance looks gilt edged based on what the placed horses have done since.

He looks every inch a potential Pattern race performer in the making, but fast ground represents something new for him and anyone planning to steam in might find it worthwhile to have a saver on the likeable and highly progressive York and Yarmouth winner Akmal in case the hot favourite fails to come up to expectations.

The feature event at 3.45 looks tough. Once raced maiden winners Hunting Tartan and Khattaab are plainly open to abundant improvement, while Mata Keranjang and Nideeb have already shown their hand in Group races.

Mata Keranjang for a place could be the safe call, but to my mind the two most interesting bets on the Thursday card are Noble Storm in the 4.20 and Vitoria in the 4.55.

Noble Storm has made great strides this season, winning a couple of hot handicaps from official marks of 94 and 98 before fading late after going off a shade too hard for his own good over a demanding track in the Beverley Bullet last time.

He's all about speed - so the fast ground ought to suit him well - and my idea of the best way to get with Noble Storm is to sniff out the best early price with the intention of trading him back to save the stake at around [2.6] in-running.

Angus Newz has a good record in previous renewals of the 4.55, while Bounty Box has thrived in handicaps for Chris Wall in recent months.

However, Vitoria could trump them all based on the way she won at Hamilton last week. Bryan Smart's filly was firmly in control throughout the final furlong that day and a 6lb penalty might not be enough to stop her if she's in the same mood again.

Lastly, a couple of words on the finale at 5.30. And the two words in question are "no bet". This looks a real brainburner of a handicap. I'll swerve it and look forward instead to a cracking Friday card at HQ which features some of the fastest juveniles in Europe doing battle for Middle Park and the Cheveley Park Stakes.

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