Maxwell is on a roll

David Maxwell is rising high presently after his last gasp victory at Punchestown last week. But when your confidence is high, winners come more readily. So he won't have minded a long flog up to Kelso for one of the least competitive hunter chases of the season, where just three runners lined up to face the starter in the Racing Together Community Raceday Novices' Hunter Chase. 

Races like this are unlikely to survive if unsupported in a world where racecourse revenue has been unduly reliant upon media rights betting revenue. A 32l winner provides no sort of contest for rider or for spectator, although neither Maxwell nor his trainer Philip Hobbs will be complaining. With 17 more such races before the start of June, let's hope they achieve higher fields or the axe is likely to fall. 

After yet another winner at Mollington on Monday, Cotswold Vale farmer-trainer Jason Warner finds himself in contention to be the leading owner in this truncated Point-to-Point season. With 17 fixtures to go, it would be quite a turn-up to retain the Leading Owner trophy within the county.